Is Marble A Type Of Alabaster

Alabaster a fine grain form of gypsum calcium sulfate dihydrate is a sedimentary rock made of tiny crystals visible only under magnification.

Is marble a type of alabaster.

In general ancient alabaster is calcite in the wider middle east including egypt and mesopotamia while it is gypsum in medieval europe. Marble consists mostly of calcite or calcium carbonate different from the gypsum of alabaster. Marble is a form of metamorphic rock that is characterized by an array of color due to the presence of impurities. They are distinguished by their hardness.

Though alabaster is mainly found in white colour it also comes in many colours like pale brown and reddish. Marble forms when limestone underground is changed through extreme pressure or heat transforming it into a crystalline structure. Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft often used for carving and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists the former use it in a wider sense that includes varieties of two different minerals.

Onyx marble is a traditional but geologically inaccurate name because both onyx and marble have geological definitions that are distinct from even the broadest definition of alabaster. Unlike the alabaster marble can be polished heavily. Aggie made of agate aggie is short for agate or glass resembling agate with various patterns like in the alleyalley or real made of marble or alabaster alley is short for alabaster streaked with wavy or other patterns with exotic names like corkscrew spiral snake ribbon onyx swirl bumblebee and butterfly. The fine grained massive type of gypsum and the fine grained banded type of calcite.

Veins in marble come from impurities such as clay embedded within the limestone.