About Natural Stone
Natural Stone is in use for centuries with the main objective that stone was permanent long lasting, natural beautiful and it could with stand atmospheric effect on its exterior.
Stone Formation
Stone is a combination of one or many minerals. There are thousands of stones quarried throughout the century. Quarries are located in all continents.
The minerals in stone came from the same liquid and gas minerals that formed the earth. Through pressure, the earth crust began to form and heavy minerals were forced down to the core which created intense pressure and heat from within the earth. Crystal and other solid forms began to grow from the mineral vapours. Further, the heat and pressure pushed these minerals up to the earth surface which formed colossal rock beds.
It took up to one hundred million years to form some of these beds. Many of the beds are now used as quarries where the stone is mined.
Types of Stones
Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous and Man made stones.
Sedimentary: Stones come from organic elements such as glaciers, wind, oceans and plants. Tiny sedimentary pieces are bonded through millions of pressure of heat and pressure. Limestone, Sandstone, Fossil stone and Travertine are all sedimentary rocks.
Metamorphic: These stones originate from a natural change from a natural change from one type of stone to another through the mixture of heat, pressure and minerals. The change maybe the development of crystal line formation, a texture change or color change. Marble, Slate and Serpentine are metamorphic rocks.
Igneous: These stones are mainly formed through volcanic material, such as magma. Underneath the earth surface liquid magma cooled and solidified. Mineral gasses and liquids penetrated into the stone and created new crystalline formation with various colours. Granite is a light coloured acid igneous granular rock of plutonic origin. It is generally gray, metal gray, red, pink, white or green in color. The color is imparted to the granite by the presence of feldspar and may vary depending on the amount of feldspar present. The granite is primarily made up of Quartz, Feldspar and minor amounts of mica and Ferro-magnesium minerals like biolite, amphibolites and pyroxene.
Man made stones: Mosaic, Terrazzo and cultured marble.
Characteristics of Stone: Surface textures, colours, reflectivity and hardness.