Abstract
The formation of marbles, which are regarded as natural stones, can be attributed to various rock origins and formation conditions. The study area is located in the Obaalacami village of Alanya district in the province of Antalya, which is located in the Taurus belt, and it covers an area of about 100 hectares. In this study, the major and trace element components of the "Emperador Dark" marbles found in the Alanya region were interpreted using geostatistical analyses. Geostatistical methods can be used to reveal and interpret the origin of marble and its formation conditions. In this context, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry was employed to analyze samples collected from various locations within the marble quarry. The CaO values of the marble quarry were found to have a normal distribution, and this was interpreted using the histogram values together with the measures of central tendency such as the mode, median, and arithmetic mean values. The major and trace element contents of the "Emperador Dark" marbles, which meet the assumption of normality, were obtained using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The strong negative correlation of CaO, which played a major role in the formation of marbles, with SiO2 and MgO was associated with the mineralogical composition that played a role in marble formation. These correlations were also tested by regression analysis, and it was proved that a statistically significant model had been obtained.