My watch list
my.chemeurope.com  
Login  

Silicate minerals



The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals. They are classified based on the structure of their silicate ion group.

Subclasses:

Contents

Nesosilicates or Isosilicates

Nesosilicates (or orthosilicates) have isolated [SiO4]4−

 

tetrahedra that are connected only by interstitial cations.

Sorosilicates

Sorosilicates have isolated double tetrahedra groups with (Si2O7)6− or a ratio of 2:7.

Cyclosilicates

Cyclosilicates, ring silicates, have linked tetrahedra with (SixO3x)2x- or a ratio of 1:3. These exists as 3-member (Si3O9)6-, 4-member (Si4O12)8- and 6-member (Si6O18)12- rings.

Inosilicates

Inosilicates, chain silicates, have interlocking chains of silicate tetrahedra with either SiO3, 1:3 ratio, for single chains or Si4O11, 4:11 ratio, for double chains.

Single chain inosilicates

Double chain inosilicates

Phyllosilicates

Phyllosilicates, sheet silicates (from Greek φύλλον phyllon, leaf), form parallel sheets of silicate tetrahedra with Si2O5 or a 2:5 ratio.

 

Tectosilicates

Tectosilicates, or "framework silicates", have a three-dimensional framework of silicate tetrahedra with SiO2 or a 1:2 ratio. This group comprises nearly 75% of the crust of the Earth. Tectosilicates with the exception of the quartz group are aluminosilicates.

   

References

  • Deer, W.A.; Howie, R.A., & Zussman, J. (1992). An introduction to the rock forming minerals, 2nd edition, London: Longman. 
  • Deer, W.A.; Howie, R.A., Wise, W.S. & Zussman, J. (2004). Rock-forming minerals. Volume 4B. Framework silicates: silica minerals. Feldspathoids and the zeolites, 2nd edition, London: Geological Society of London, 982 pp. 
  • Hurlbut, Cornelius S. (1966). Dana's Manual of Mineralogy, 17th edition. ISBN ISBN 0-471-03288-3. 
  • Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis (1985). Manual of Mineralogy, 20th edition. ISBN ISBN 0-471-80580-7. 
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Silicate_minerals". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE