Ride ! (11) - Naxian marble
Europe, Greece, Aegean, Cyclades, Naxos, Kinidaros, Marble quarry (cut from T)
There’s no Aegean island’s that so marked by mining and quarrying as beautiful & fascinating Naxos. In an earlier post, I showed the old logistic centre of the emery (smyrigly) mining in Stravologada industrial park here.
On display in this pic are the modern marble quarries near the village of Kinidaros in the central part of the island. Naxian marble has a special quality. It was already quarried in ancient times ( on Agios Ioannis hill in the north part of Naxos and near Apollonas).
Naxian marble (μαρμαρος =shining stone) is over 98% calcite. Other component minerals are dolomite, silicate and traces of graphite and pyrite. Calcite crystals are randomly distributed and usually transparent. This transparence gives the stone an appearance of depth and is the cause of the blue-grey shimmer of the marble, which is more or less noticeable depending on the angle of the light source. The crystals are up to 15 millimetres in diameter and it is thus one of the largest grained marbles.
This is number 26 of the Cyclades 2011 album and 11 of Ride.
Ride ! (11) - Naxian marble
Europe, Greece, Aegean, Cyclades, Naxos, Kinidaros, Marble quarry (cut from T)
There’s no Aegean island’s that so marked by mining and quarrying as beautiful & fascinating Naxos. In an earlier post, I showed the old logistic centre of the emery (smyrigly) mining in Stravologada industrial park here.
On display in this pic are the modern marble quarries near the village of Kinidaros in the central part of the island. Naxian marble has a special quality. It was already quarried in ancient times ( on Agios Ioannis hill in the north part of Naxos and near Apollonas).
Naxian marble (μαρμαρος =shining stone) is over 98% calcite. Other component minerals are dolomite, silicate and traces of graphite and pyrite. Calcite crystals are randomly distributed and usually transparent. This transparence gives the stone an appearance of depth and is the cause of the blue-grey shimmer of the marble, which is more or less noticeable depending on the angle of the light source. The crystals are up to 15 millimetres in diameter and it is thus one of the largest grained marbles.
This is number 26 of the Cyclades 2011 album and 11 of Ride.