Some of the world's greatest buildings and monuments are made of marble. Crushed and ground marble has also become valuable in textiles, paints, and other uses. The abundance of limestone and marble in the Appalachians and the Midwest is evidenced by countless place names, from Limesdale to Marbleton to Marble Falls. Tennessee Tennessee designated limestone its state rock on March 13, 1979. Limestone can be found throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of Tennessee.
Limestone even affects Tennessee's appearance as water nibbles away at it here and there.
Caves and sinkholes are common in much of the Appalachians. They often contain bones of Ice Age animals that lived in caves or fell into sinkholes. Most of the limestone needed in Tennessee for construction, cement, and agriculture comes from rocks dating back 435 million years or more to the Ordovician Period. These rocks occur in central and eastern Tennessee. In central Tennessee they are mined for phosphate.