There are thousands of types of stone that have been quarried through the centuries. Quarries are located all around the world. A majority of natural stone comes from Italy, Spain,Turkey, United States,Mexico, China,Taiwan. India,Greece, Canada, France, and Brazil.
The minerals in stone came from the same liquid and gas minerals that formed the earth. The Earth developed as a massive body of gas and liquid minerals that slowly cooled and condensed to a solid core. Through pressure, the Earth’s crust began to form and heavy minerals were forced down to the core of the Earth where they we’re trapped.As the crust got thicker, it squeezed around the inner core which created intense pressure and heat from within the Earth. Crystals and other solid forms began to grow from the mineral vapors that were being released.As the Earth’s crust began to expand and erode, heat and pressure pushed the solid minerals up to the Earth’s surface which formed colossal rock beds. It look 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.
Most of these minerals can be identified by their color, hardness, and crystal formation. Crystals come in a variety of shapes and sizes.The wide array of these minerals are often difficult to identify. Many stones look very similar to each other; however, they are all very different.