Provenance study of Czech marbles based on a comparison of mineralogical-petrographic, cathodoluminescence, plus C and O isotopic characteristics
Abstract
In order to make determinations of provenance, a methodology was applied, based on a combination of qualitative and the quantitative petrography, cathodoluminescence, and the C-O stable isotope geochemistry of carbonates. Marbles from nine historic quarries, as well as three marble artefacts of the Czech Republic were selected for this study.
The studied marbles were distinguished by multivariate statistical methods (i.e. cluster analysis and discriminant analysis), on the basis of their isotope (delta13C, delta18O) and petrographic characteristics (fabric parameters i.e. aspect ratio, index of grain size homogeneity, index of interlocking). Qualitative cathodoluminescence analysis is very helpful in discriminating those marbles for which petrographic and/or C-O stable isotopic characteristics are not sufficiently diagnostic.