Systematic Mineralogy

Oxygen (O) is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and silicon (Si) is the second; thus we’d expect many minerals to contain these two. In this chapter, we will summarize the commonly-occurring members of some of the silicate classes, touching only on what we consider to be the most important and/or interesting representatives. Our goal here is to continue the theme of Chapter 1 by demonstrating how all the silicate structures are related.

Topics covered in Chapter 6 include:

Framework Silicates
Layer Silicates
Chain Silicates: Amphiboles and Pyroxenes
Ring Silicates
Disilicates
Orthosilicates
Non-Silicates