Sorosilicate, formerly called Pyrosilicate, any member of a group of compounds with structures that have two silicate tetrahedrons (a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) linked together. Because one oxygen atom is shared by two tetrahedrons, the chemical formula contains Si2O7, as in melilite or hemimorphite.
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…isolated groups of SiO4, while sorosilicates contain pairs of SiO4 tetrahedrons linked into Si2O7 groups. Ring silicates, also known as cyclosilicates, are closed, ringlike silicates; the sixfold variety has composition Si6O18. Silicates that are composed of infinite chains of tetrahedrons are called inosilicates; single chains have a unit composition of…Read More
These minerals contain sets of two SiO4 tetrahedrons joined by one shared apical oxygen (see Figure 14). A silicon-to-oxygen ratio of 2:7 is consequently present in their structures. More than 70 minerals belong to the sorosilicate group, although most are rare. Only the members…Read More
EarthEarth, third planet from the Sun and the fifth in the solar system in terms of size and mass. Its single most-outstanding feature is that its near-surface environments areRead More
HemimorphiteHemimorphite, , one of two minerals formerly called calamine in the U.S., a white silicate mineral that is an important zinc ore. A secondary mineral formed from theRead More
MeliliteMelilite,, any member of a series of silicate minerals that consist of calcium silicates of aluminum and magnesium; gehlenite is the aluminous end-member and åkermanite theRead More