Silicate mineral
A silicate mineral is a mineral that has a combination of the elements silicon and oxygen. In other words, a silicate mineral has one or more silicates. These minerals (especially feldspar) make up about 90% of the Earth's crust.
On Earth, a wide variety of silicate minerals occur in an even wider range of combinations as a result of the processes that form and re-work the crust. These processes include partial melting, crystallization, fractionation, metamorphism, weathering and diagenesis. Living things also contribute to the silicate cycle near the Earth's surface. A type of plankton known as diatoms construct their exoskeletons, known as tests, from silica. The tests of dead diatoms are a major constituent of deep ocean sediment
Silicate Mineral Media
Lithium aluminium silicate mineral spodumene
Diatomaceous earth, a biogenic form of silica as viewed under a microscope. The imaged region measures approximately 1.13 by 0.69 mm.
Orthosilicate anion SiO4−
4. The grey ball represents the silicon atom, and the red balls are the oxygen atoms.
Nesosilicate specimens at the Museum of Geology in South Dakota
Kyanite crystals (unknown scale)
Pyrosilicate anion Si2O6−
7
Sorosilicate exhibit at Museum of Geology in South Dakota
Cyclosilicate specimens at the Museum of Geology, South Dakota
Pezzottaite*Locality: Sakavalana mine, Ambatovita, Mandrosonoro area, Ambatofinandrahana District, Ampandramaika-Malakialina Pegmatite Field, Amoron'i Mania Region, Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar (
Bazzite (image width: 2.6 mm mm)*Locality: Fibbia Mountain, Fontana, Central St Gotthard Massif, Leventina, Ticino (Tessin), Switzerland
