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Lithium aluminium silicate mineral spodumene. Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust. [1] [2] [3] In mineralogy, silica (silicon dioxide, SiO 2) is usually considered a silicate mineral rather than an ...
With two shared oxides bound to each silicon, cyclic or polymeric structures can result. The cyclic metasilicate ring Si 6 O 12− 18 is a hexamer of SiO 3 2-. Polymeric silicate anions of can exist also as long chains. In single-chain silicates, which are a type of inosilicate, tetrahedra link to
The oxide mineral class includes those minerals in which the oxide anion (O 2−) is bonded to one or more metal alloys. The hydroxide -bearing minerals are typically included in the oxide class. Minerals with complex anion groups such as the silicates , sulfates , carbonates and phosphates are classed separately.
Quartz is, therefore, classified structurally as a framework silicate mineral and compositionally as an oxide mineral. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar. [10] Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz and the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral. The transformation ...
Aluminum silicate (or aluminium silicate) is a name commonly applied to chemical compounds which are derived from aluminium oxide, Al 2 O 3 and silicon dioxide, SiO 2 which may be anhydrous or hydrated, naturally occurring as minerals or synthetic. Their chemical formulae are often expressed as xAl 2 O 3 ·ySiO 2 ·zH 2 O. It is known as E ...
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula SiO 2, commonly found in nature as quartz. [5] [6] In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand.
Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 10 24 kg (8.84 × 10 24 lb) and makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. [1] It has a thickness of 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) [1] making up about 46% of Earth's radius and 84% of Earth's volume.
Other common elements in silicate minerals correspond to other common elements in the Earth's crust, such as aluminium, magnesium, iron, calcium, sodium, and potassium. [103] Some important rock-forming silicates include the feldspars, quartz, olivines, pyroxenes, amphiboles, garnets, and micas.