Minerals nonsilicate

The crystal structures of all the minerals in the serpentine group contain the same basic building blocks. The basic unit is composed of a silicate sheet of composition (Si205) ", in which three of the O atoms in each tetrahedron are shared with adjacent tetrahedra (Fig. 2.2A), and a nonsilicate sheet of... 

The so-called non-silicate minerals consist of a variety of different mineral groups each named for a particular anion. Only a few of these minerals contribute much volume to Earth s crust, but many of them are very important minerals for manufacturing and other industrial uses. Most mineralogists recognize ten or so major nonsilicate groups and a variable number of lesser groups. Table 2 lists several of the major non-silicate groups. 

Coleman, M.L. (1985) Geochemistry of diagenetic nonsilicate minerals kinetic considerations. Philos Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 315, 39-56. 

EXAMPLES OF COMMON NONSILICATE MINERALS AND THEIR USES... 

Table 1. Examples of common nonsilicate minerals and their uses.

Sodium is the most abundant of the alkali metals and is the sixth most abundant element in the Earth s crust, with an abundance of roughly 2.36 wt.%. Owing to its high chemical reactivity with water and, to a lesser extent, with air, sodium metal never occurs free in nature however, the element is ubiquitous and occurs naturally in a wide range of compounds. Sodium chloride is the most common compound of sodium and is dissolved either in seawater or in the crystalline form of halite or rock salt [NaCl, cubic]. However, it is widely present in numerous complex silicates such as feldspars and micas and other nonsilicate minerals such as cryolite [NajAlF, monoclinic], natronite or soda ash [Na COj, mono-clonic], borax [Na B O,. lOH O, monoclinic], sodium hydroxide or caustic soda [NaOH], Chilean saltpeter, and nitratite or soda niter [NaNOj, rhombohedral]. Obviously, the chief ore is the sodium chloride recovered from either brines or rock salt ore deposits. There are... 

Deer, W. A., Howie, R. A. Zussman, J. (1975). Rock-Forming Minerals Vol. 5 Nonsilicates. Longman London 7 impression 202-218... 

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