Silicate minerals

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Silicate Minerals
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General
Category	[[Mineral categories|Silicate minerals]]
Formula	Various
Strunz classification	[[Strunz classification|]]
Dana classification	[[Dana classification|]]
Crystal system	[[Crystal system|]]
Crystal class
Color	Various
Physical properties
Cleavage	Various
Mohs scale hardness
Luster	Various
Streak	Various
Diaphaneity	Various
Specific gravity
Optical properties
Refractive index
Crystal habit
Other characteristics

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This template is designed for use on pages related to minerals, providing a standardized format to display essential information about various mineral properties. It includes fields for the mineral's name, image, category, formula, classifications (Strunz and Dana), crystal system and class, color, and various physical properties such as cleavage, hardness, luster, streak, diaphaneity, specific gravity, optical properties, refractive index, crystal habit, and other characteristics. Users can fill in the relevant information for each mineral, ensuring a consistent and informative presentation across the wiki's mineral-related articles.

Silicate minerals are the most abundant class of minerals in the Earth's crust and are fundamental to rock-forming processes. They are characterized by the presence of silicon and oxygen, which form a framework of tetrahedral structures with silicon at the center bonded to four oxygen atoms. These tetrahedra can be isolated, or linked together in various configurations, including chains, sheets, or three-dimensional frameworks, which give rise to different mineral families and properties.

Classification

Silicate minerals are classified based on how the silicon-oxygen tetrahedra are arranged and how they are bonded together. The primary subdivisions are:

• Nesosilicates - These minerals have isolated tetrahedra that do not share any oxygen atoms, for example, olivine.
• Sorosilicates - In these minerals, two tetrahedra share one oxygen atom, forming groups that are then linked by other cations, as seen in epidote.
• Cyclosilicates - These are characterized by rings of tetrahedra that share two oxygen atoms, such as in beryl.
• Inosilicates - These minerals have tetrahedra arranged in single or double chains, as seen in pyroxenes and amphiboles respectively.
• Phyllosilicates - Also known as sheet silicates, these minerals have tetrahedra linked into continuous sheets, like in mica and clay minerals.
• Tectosilicates - Also known as framework silicates, these minerals have a three-dimensional network of tetrahedra, including quartz and feldspar.

Properties

Silicate minerals vary widely in color, hardness, crystal form, and density, which are determined by their chemical composition and the way their silicon-oxygen tetrahedra are structured. For example, quartz is hard and resistant to weathering, while clays are soft and form from the breakdown of other silicates.

Occurrence

Silicate minerals make up approximately 90% of the Earth's crust. They are also present in meteorites and in dust in the atmosphere. They form through a variety of geological processes including crystallization from magma, metamorphism, and sedimentation.

Uses

Silicate minerals are extremely important in both natural and industrial processes. They are used in the manufacture of ceramics, glass, cement, and many other products. In nature, they are crucial for the soil formation and are also indicators of geological environments and processes.

See also

• Mineralogy
• Geology
• Petrology
• Crystallography