Antique Cornish Marble Serpentine Model Font 19th C

Serpentine Marble / Verde Antico

Serpentine is a major rock forming mineral and is found as a constituent in many metamorphic and weathered igneous rocks. Serpentine’s structure is composed of layers of silicate tetrahedrons linked into sheets; this structure is what gives it its high flexural strength rating.

Verde Antico is the commercial name for the serpentine “marble” derived from highly sheared ultramafic rocks that have been rewelded and metasomatized by the process of serpentinization.  These ultramafic bodies are now recognized as segments of ancient oceanic crust that became part of the eastern North American continent during the Taconian orogeny. This is considered to be middle Ordovician in age, around 450 million years ago.

More deformation and metamorphism took place during the Acadian orogeny around 360 million years ago.