Explaining Quartzite and Marble
Do you know how to differentiate these stones?
As natural stones lovers, we feel responsible to give all the information we have about quartzite and marble for you. These two stones are the most sought-after in the natural stone market today. There are many differences and similarities between them. Read this article until the end to discover it.
MINERAL STRUCTURE
Marble is a metamorphic rock exposed to high temperatures and pressure, and in the end it is composed mainly by two predominant minerals: Dolomite and Calcite. In a funny ironic way, Quartzite is also a metamorphic rock, but consists mostly of quartz, formed by the action of heat and pressure upon sandstone.
In the geology world quartzite is classified as a siliceous stone (made-up of silica) while marble is classified as a calcareous stone (made-up of calcium carbonate), although their formation process is very similar.
This initial step of the natural development of its structure is directly related to their humidity absorption level, strength, resistance to scratching and other properties that must be considered when picking stones for a specific project application.
Some may be great options for outside facades, wet floor spaces, etc, while others may be more suitable for indoor and decorative uses for example. The fact is that due to the diversity of materials available, nature will always have a beautiful and functional option for what you are looking for.
COLORS
Both have the same usual solid colors, ranging from white to gray. The fact that these stones are in nature, combining many different minerals in their make-up, make their background color change – which is another aspect that differentiates them.
Marble’s most common colors are white, gray, black and green, while quartzites are mostly white, brown, black, purple, yellow, blue and green.
DURABILITY
As our article “What are hard marbles?” says, “in the field of Mineralogy, to quantify the hardness of a mineral, the Mohs Scale is used, developed by the German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs in 1812 and is formed by 10 minerals ranked in order of hardness”.
Quartzite has a seven rating on the Moh’s Hardness Scale compared to marble’s rating of three. Although, the stone’s mineral structure has a strong impact on this topic. Hard marble (dolomite marble) is between six and nine, which can vary depending on the degree of dolomite mineral present in the stone.
Our stone trade specialist, André Zucchi, emphasizes that both marble and quartzite are natural stones and getting informed about the specific characteristics of the actual stone to be used in a project is very important.
“As natural products stones may have different characteristics even within materials from the same species and sometimes even from the same quarry. Natural Stones are unique in all senses of this expression”, highlights André.
Stones with higher concentration of dolomite or quartz mineral not only tend to have a very trendy aesthetic appearance, but they are also more resistant to the daily use of a kitchen or high-traffic floors.
In resume: you can differentiate it for its mineral composition, colors and durability, but now I bet you are 100% convinced to use both of these materials in your projects.
Click here to know more about our exclusive quartzites and marbles.
BRAZILIAN MARBLE REVOLUTION
Zucchi’s secret lies in its production capacity and the technology of its industrial line, which is one of the most modern in the ornamental stone sector. In 2017, we launched the first factory in the Americas for exclusive marble processing. This innovation was responsible for considerably raising the finish and quality of Zucchi’s Brazilian marble, which became one of the most desired, especially in the North American market.
