Black Marble Stone – All You Need to Know

Juliana was debating with her mom on how to do the decor of her bedroom. The discussion was on the kind of marbles to be used for their home décor.

Everyone in the Brown family has an individual bedroom in a luxurious large home surrounded by a beautiful garden and a wonderful driveway. The rest of the family prefers the use of green marbles, but Juliana persists in using black marbles. As an architect, my duty is to respect the client’s choices and preferences first in all aspects, so I had left the choice to them. Juliana’s mother was seemingly biased with black color. She believes that black color visually narrows spaces. Black is depressing and too masculine color to use everywhere, except on countertops.

However, I kept the threads of discussion in my hand by addressing both. I told them that black is the color, which absorbs all brightness in the spectrum. In the absence of reflection of any hue or shade or color, we exceedingly perceive darkness. Black color represents power, strength, seriousness, and elegance. Marbles are superior stones among all types of rocks. The sophistication of the black marble allows the designers, craftsmen, and architects to express their creativity whether it is a matter of carving a sculpture or designing a building.

To support my arguments and debunk all prevailing myths about black marbles, I showed them some photos of excellent applications of black marbles in my interior and exterior design portfolio.

Now, the mother seemed satisfied and the daughter was cheerful. Of course, this incident has inspired me to tell all homeowners something factual but interesting about black marbles.

What Is Black Marble?

Let’s start with marbles and learn what Wikipedia says about Marble.

“In geology, the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone, but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone.”

Some geologists explained how black color occurs in these limestone-type rocks and becomes black marble.

When continental platforms have received a huge volume of sediments with an abundance of organic matter and carbonates.

Under the anoxic conditions, these deposits have passed several geological stages and eventually turned black in color.

Different Types of Black Marbles

We mostly differentiate marble types based on their origin and appearance. The appearance consists of different intensities of black in the background and different colors of veins in it right from white to gray and gold.

Marquina Black

It is an internationally recognized variety of black marble.
Due to high production, it is easily available worldwide.
The name Marquina Black comes from its place of extraction- Marquina, Biscay, Spain.
It has a background of intense & homogenous black color. So, the purity and beauty of the formidable black give it exclusivity and a sense of quality.
Alteration of radiant fossil white veins & fine grains visually proves mesmerizing. So, it becomes the first choice for interior decoration.

Noir Saint Laurent Marble, France

Noir Saint Laurent is a famous place in France and this variety of black marble is found in abundance.

Saint Laurent is a coppery black marble variety perfect for natural stone design elements and interior cladding.
It has a dark crystalline background with fossils.
Fine grains and delicate brown, gold, and white hues of irregular veins with occasional notes of coral color make it astoundingly on look.

Nero Porto, Italy (Portoro)

Nero Porto is the most expensive black marble on the planet.
It is high-end crystalline black marble.
Portoro has an intense jet color base with numerous dynamic golden veins and white effervescences give it a motion effect.
Due to limonite and Sulphur in veins, it appears golden in color

Nero Dorato (Sahara Noir) Marble, Tunisia

It is also known as Black Mirage or Black Aziza marbles in the world.
Its quarries are found in the Zaghouan area in northeast Tunisia. It is nearly 60 km south of Tunis.
Thanks to toasted nuances its base seem reminiscent of obsidian.
It has deep gray to a black background.
Whit and gold/brown veins are results of recrystallization of calcites.
It has very fine grains and the occasional presence of fossils.

Fossil Black, Morocco

It is quarried from the area of Erfoud in Morocco and contains an abundance of various fossils such as the Ammonites, Goniatites, and Orthoceras species.
It has a background with intense gray to black hues.
It contains medium to thick grains.
Due to the presence of lots of fossils, it is typical white veins and marks of fossil shells. These all make it highly engaging and attractive in look.

Other Kinds of Black Marbles:

I have listed above only a couple of highly used types of black marbles. However, you will find the following varieties in your local or global market.

Austral Gold (Australia)
Black Magic (Turkey)
Black Pearl (Turkey)
Nero Crete (Greece)
Nero di Ormea (Italy)
Nero Kawala (Greece)
Petit Granit (Belgium)
Portoro Antalya (Turkey)
Riverina (Portugal)

Applications of Black Marbles:

We have previously explored the Green Marbles in a detailed manner. So, you know much about marbles and their different colors of varieties used in different areas of indoor and outdoor spaces.

Black Marble Flooring:

The foremost application area for any kind of marble is flooring. Marble flooring has been considered a luxury since ancient eras, but today it is accessible to all besides rich and affluent classes of society, middle and economic classes across the globe also afford it.

Black marble is a somewhat sophisticated natural stone highly prone to scratches and staining due to the high presence of calcites in its structure.

Thereby, we, architects and home designers prefer to stay up to interior flooring stone applications and rarely go to outdoor areas especially in commercial buildings like hotels, restaurants, and luxurious offices as natural stone pavers.

However, recent trends favor the outdoor applications of black marbles in areas of:

Façade
Swimming pools
Gardens
Landscape spaces
patios

Of course, exterior flooring stone applications demand rough surface textures to avoid slipping in wet weathers or areas.

Black Marble Finishes:

When black marbles are used in flooring applications the following finishes are preferable.

For interior spaces-

A highly polished and glossy surface texture is advisable to make to alluring.
To gain classic look-n-feel, peeled and aged finishes are better options.

For exterior spaces-

Sandblasting
Bush-hammered
Or any rough surface finish is okay for outdoor applications.

We can apply flooring with black marbles in almost all areas of interior spaces, such as-

Livingroom
Bedroom
Foyers
Kitchen
Bathroom
Stairs

World of Stones USA in Maryland is a perfect destination to obtain high-quality black marble stone slabs in different sizes and shapes for flooring applications. You can make your custom order with preferred styles, sizes, shapes, and varieties of black marbles. Albeit, at highly competitive rates.

Black Marble Walling:

Black marbles are available in the tile format. It makes the job a lot easier for stonemasons to fix them on vertical spaces like walls in different areas.
Kitchen backsplash is the most known application area, particularly when you have the same black marble variety as kitchen countertops, tabletops, and cabinet tops.
The next preferable wall areas are in foyers, façade, stairs, and bathrooms.
Recent trends favor non-glossy surface textures of black marble slabs in bathroom flooring while walling tiles remain glossy in touch & look.

You can find an exceptionally rich inventory of different sizes, shapes, styles, and varieties of black marble tiles at World of Stones USA. Make your order online, no need to burn fuel for an in-person visit. Our digital catalog, brochures, and photos are enough to visualize the black marble stone products on our eCommerce storefront, right?

Black Marble Countertops:

Black marble on different countertops, tabletops, and cabinet tops is highly preferable because of its black/dark color. It cuts lots of maintenance anxieties and fear of dirty looks over time even if you have washed them regularly.

The next thing in favor of black marbles on countertops and similar areas of stains. Black colors of marbles hide minor stains and patches beautifully. Moreover, modern sealing solutions make them almost stain-free.

Care & Maintenance of Black Marble in Interior & Exterior Areas

After hearing how easy to maintain black marble, Juliana was more than happy. After all care and maintenance, responsibilities were her in the home!

I advised her to go with simple sweeping and washing with plain water regularly is enough from her end. Occasional detergent washing can keep the tiles or marble slabs stain-free.

Beware of acids! I requested her to avoid abrasive cleaners and use acidic solutions for cleaning, washing, and stain removal.

These precautions will help you to keep look-n-feel of black marbles, whether it is for interior or exterior areas.