Affiliations: Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica “F. Accascina”, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy | Dipartimento di Scienza della Terra, Università di Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy | KFA Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany | Austria and Institut Laue Langevin, Atominstitut der Österreichischen Universitäten, A-1020 Wien, F-38042 Grenoble, France
Abstract: Marbles, carbonatic (i.e. calcitic–dolomitic) rocks deriving from the metamorphic evolution of previous carbonates, are often rather similar to each other in many respects (i.e. mineralogical, physical–structural and chemical), and thus difficult to identify. In search for a diagnostic method to provenance marbles, we have selected a limited number of Italian white marbles representing a wide array of metamorphic (i.e. thermal) levels. The mesoscale structural arrangement of these samples was derived by means of combined Ultra Small Angle and Small Angle Neutron Scattering experiments. The parameters of the model used to fit the data have been correlated with the metamorphic history of the samples. These interesting preliminary results, to be confirmed with new analyses, throw new light on the strict relationship between the formation history of a marble and its intermediate mesoscopic structure, which is of potential interest for other applications, such as the source identification and authentication of ancient marble artifacts.
