In commercial terminology, a marble is any crystalline calcareous rock that will take a polish. The marbles mined in Arkansas are all unmetamorphosed limestones or dolostones. Marble is used primarily as a building and ornamental stone, in monuments, table tops, wash basins, statuary, and other decorative applications. Units Several types and grades of marble have been mined from quarries in Arkansas. The crystalline texture of Arkansas marbles varies from coarse to fine and the colors may range from light gray to black, tan to yellow to rust, and it may have one uniform color or several shades.
Marble is mined exclusively from limestones and dolostones of Paleozoic age in north Arkansas.
Other stratigraphic units are sometimes quarried for stone when exploration reveals a unique quality that is in demand. The first export of marble from Arkansas was in 1836, the year Arkansas became a state. A large block of Early Mississippian limestone was quarried near Marble Falls in Newton County and sent to Washington, D.C., to be used in the construction of the Washington Monument. Marble production has been intermittent throughout most of its commercial history, but in recent years the use of products made of Arkansas marble has steadily increased. Most current mining operations of commercial marble in Arkansas are located near Batesville, Independence County.