|
Saponite
Saponite is a trioctahedral mineral of the smectite group. Its chemical formula is . It is soluble in sulfuric acid. It was first described in 1840 by Lars Fredrik Svanberg, Svanberg. Varieties of saponite are griffithite, bowlingite and sobotkite. It is soft, massive, and plastic, and exists in veins and cavities in serpentinite and basalt. The name is derived from the Greek language, Greek ''sapo'', soap. Other names include bowlingite; mountain soap; piotine; soapstone. Occurrence Saponite was first described in 1840 for an occurrence in Lizard Point, Cornwall, Lizard Point, Landewednack, Cornwall, England. It occurs in hydrothermal Vein (geology), veins, in basalt vesicles, skarns, amphibolite and serpentinite. Associated minerals include celadonite, Chlorite group, chlorite, native copper, epidote, orthoclase, Dolomite (mineral), dolomite, calcite and quartz. Saponite is found in Ząbkowice Śląskie in Silesia, Svärdsjö in Dalarna, Sweden and in Cornwall, UK. The so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phyllosilicate
Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust. In mineralogy, the crystalline forms of silica (silicon dioxide, ) are usually considered to be Silicate mineral#Tectosilicates, tectosilicates, and they are classified as such in the Dana system (75.1). However, the Nickel-Strunz system classifies them as oxide minerals (4.DA). Silica is found in nature as the mineral quartz, and its polymorphism (materials science), polymorphs. On Earth, a wide variety of silicate minerals occur in an even wider range of combinations as a result of the processes that have been forming and re-working the crust for billions of years. These processes include partial melting, crystallization, fractionation, metamorphism, weathering, and diagenesis. Living organisms also contribute to this carbonate–silicate cycle, geologic cycle. For example, a type of plankton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soapstone
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in subduction zones, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx of fluids but without melting. It has been a carving medium for thousands of years. Terminology The definitions of the terms "steatite" and "soapstone" vary with the field of study. In geology, steatite is a rock that is, to a very large extent, composed of talc. The mining industry defines steatite as a high-purity talc rock that is suitable for the manufacturing of, for example, insulators; the lesser grades of the mineral can be called simply "talc rock". Steatite can be used both in lumps ("block steatite", "lava steatite", "lava grade talc"), and in the ground form. While the geologists logically will use "steatite" to designate both forms, in the industry, "steatite" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on Scratch hardness, scratch hardness comparison. Large calcite crystals are used in optical equipment, and limestone composed mostly of calcite has numerous uses. Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite over timescales of days or less at temperatures exceeding 300 °C, and vaterite is even less stable. Etymology Calcite is derived from the German , a term from the 19th century that came from the Latin word for Lime (material), lime, (genitive ) with the suffix ''-ite'' used to name minerals. It is thus a Doublet (linguistics), doublet of the word ''wikt:chalk, chalk''. When applied by archaeology, archaeologists and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolomite (mineral)
Dolomite () is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite (see Dolomite (rock)). An alternative name sometimes used for the dolomitic rock type is dolostone. History As stated by Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure the mineral dolomite was probably first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1768. In 1791, it was described as a rock by the French natural history, naturalist and geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750–1801), first in buildings of the old city of Rome, and later as samples collected in the County_of_Tyrol, Tyrolean Alps. Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure first named the mineral (after Dolomieu) in March 1792. Properties The mineral dolomite crystallizes in the trigonal, trigonal-rhombohedral system. It forms white, tan, gray, or pink crystals. Dolomite is a double carbonate, having an alternating structural arrangement of calcium and magnesium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthoclase
Orthoclase, or orthoclase feldspar ( endmember formula K Al Si3 O8), is an important tectosilicate mineral which forms igneous rock. The name is from the Ancient Greek for "straight fracture", because its two cleavage planes are at right angles to each other. It is a type of alkali feldspar, also known as potassium feldspar or K-spar. The gem known as moonstone (see below) is largely composed of orthoclase. Formation and subtypes left, Orthoclase Organ_Mountains.html" ;"title="crystal twinning from the Organ Mountains">crystal twinning from the Organ Mountains in New Mexico Orthoclase is a common constituent of most granites and other felsic igneous rocks and often forms huge crystals and masses in pegmatite. Typically, the pure potassium endmember of orthoclase forms a solid solution with albite, the sodium endmember (NaAlSi3O8) of plagioclase. While slowly cooling within the earth, sodium-rich albite lamellae form by exsolution, enriching the remaining orthocla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epidote
Epidote is a calcium aluminium iron sorosilicate mineral. Description Well developed crystals of epidote, Ca2Al2(Fe3+;Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH), crystallizing in the monoclinic system, are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habit, the direction of elongation being perpendicular to the single plane of symmetry. The name Epidote is derived from the Greek word 'epidosis', meaning "increase", in allusion to the crystal characteristic of one longer side at the base of the prism. The faces are often deeply striated and crystals are often twinned. Many of the characters of the mineral vary with the amount of iron present for instance, the color, the optical constants, and the specific gravity. The color is green, grey, brown or nearly black, but usually a characteristic shade of yellowish-green or pistachio-green. It displays strong pleochroism, the pleochroic colors being usually green, yellow and brown. Clinozoisite is green, white or pale rose-red group species c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Native Copper
Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native copper was an important ore used by pre-historic peoples. The name copper comes from the Greek ''kyprios'', "of Cyprus", the location of native copper mines since pre-historic times. Native copper typically occurs as irregular masses and fracture fillings, and rarely as isometric cubic and octahedral crystals. It has a reddish, orangish, and/or brownish color on fresh surfaces, but typically is weathered to a state of verdigris and coated with a green or blue-green tarnish or patina of copper(II) carbonate. Its specific gravity is 8.9 and Mohs hardness is 2.5–3. The mines of the Keweenaw native copper deposits of Upper Michigan were major copper producers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and are the largest deposits of native co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chlorite Group
The chlorites are the group of phyllosilicate minerals common in low-grade metamorphic rocks and in Mineral alteration, altered igneous rocks. Greenschist, formed by metamorphism of basalt or other low-silica volcanic rock, typically contains significant amounts of chlorite. Chlorite minerals show a wide variety of compositions, in which magnesium, iron, aluminium, and silicon substitute for each other in the crystal structure. A complete solid solution series exists between the two most common end members, magnesium-rich clinochlore and iron-rich chamosite. In addition, manganese, zinc, lithium, and calcium species are known. The great range in composition results in considerable variation in physical, optical, and X-ray diffraction, X-ray properties. Similarly, the range of chemical composition allows chlorite group minerals to exist over a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions. For this reason chlorite minerals are ubiquitous minerals within low and medium temperat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celadonite
Celadonite is a mica group mineral, a phyllosilicate of potassium, iron in both oxidation states, aluminium and hydroxide with formula . It crystallizes in the monoclinic system and usually forms massive aggregates of prismatic crystallites or, more commonly, in dull clay masses. It is soft with a Mohs hardness of 2 and a specific gravity of 3. It forms vesicle fillings and linings in altered basaltic lavas. Early research suggests this mineral has ties to weakly metamorphosed plutonic rocks during formation, and is also found with montmorillonite clays or zeolite crystals. Association with zeolites may indicate these minerals favor the same underlying conditions of crystal growth. It was first described in 1847 on Monte Baldo, near Verona, Italy. The name is from the French ''celadon,'' for sea-green. It is one of two minerals, along with glauconite, used in making the pigment known as green earth, which was an important pigment for the decoration of Joseon buildings (so mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibolite
Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose (flaky) structure. The small flakes of black and white in the rock often give it a salt-and-pepper appearance. Amphibolite frequently forms by metamorphism of mafic igneous rocks, such as basalt. However, because metamorphism creates minerals entirely based upon the chemistry of the protolith, certain 'dirty marls' and volcanic sediments may also metamorphose to an amphibolite assemblage. Deposits containing dolomite and siderite also readily yield amphibolite ( tremolite-schist, grunerite-schist, and others) especially where there has been a certain amount of contact metamorphism by adjacent granitic masses. Metamorphosed basalt (metabasalt) creates ''ortho-amphibolite'' and other chemically appropriate lithologies create ''par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skarn
Skarns or tactites are coarse-grained metamorphic rocks that form by replacement of carbonate-bearing rocks during regional or contact metamorphism and metasomatism. Skarns may form by metamorphic recrystallization of impure carbonate protoliths, bimetasomatic reaction of different lithologies, and infiltration metasomatism by magmatic- hydrothermal fluids. Skarns tend to be rich in calcium-magnesium-iron-manganese-aluminium silicate minerals, which are also referred to as calc-silicate minerals.Ray, G.E., and Webster, I.C.L. (1991): An Overview of Skarn Deposits; in Ore Deposits, Tectonics and Metallogeny in the Canadian Cordillera; McMillan, W.J., compiler, B. C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Paper 1991-4, pages 213-252.Meinert, L.D., 1992. Skarns and Skarn Deposits; Geoscience Canada, Vol. 19, No. 4, p. 145-162.Hammarstrom, J.M., Kotlyar, B.B., Theodore, T.G., Elliott, J.E., John, D.A., Doebrich, J.L., Nash, J.T., Carlson, R.R., Lee, G.K., Livo, K.E., Klein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vein (geology)
In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation. The hydraulic flow involved is usually due to hydrothermal circulation. Veins are classically thought of as being planar fractures in rocks, with the crystal growth occurring normal to the walls of the cavity, and the crystal protruding into open space. This certainly is the method for the formation of some veins. However, it is rare in geology for significant open space to remain open in large volumes of rock, especially several kilometers below the surface. Thus, there are two main mechanisms considered likely for the formation of veins: ''open-space filling'' and ''crack-seal growth''. Open space filling Open space filling is the hallmark of epithermal vein systems, such as a stockwork, in greisens or in certain skarn environments. For open space fillin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
