• Fibrous Varieties

• Chalcedony is the general name applied to fibrous varieties. It is more specifically

thought of as a brown, translucent variety, with a waxy luster, often mammillary
and in other imitative shapes. Chalcedony has been deposited from aqueous
solutions and is frequently found lining or filling cavities in rocks. Color and
banding give rise to the following varieties:
1. Carnelian. A red chalcedony.
2. Chrysoprase. An apple-green chalcedony.
3. Heliotrope or bloodstone. A green chalcedony with small red spots in it.
4. Agate. A variegated variety with alternating layers of chalcedony and opal, or granular
cryptocrystalline quartz. The different colors are usually in delicate, fine parallel bands which
are commonly curved, in some specimens concentric (Plate XIV). Most agate used for
commercial purposes is colored by artificial means. Some agates have the different colors not
arranged in bands but irregularly distributed. Moss agate is a variety in which the variation in
color is due to visible impurities, often manganese oxide in moss-like patterns. Wood that has
been petrified by replacement by clouded agate is known as silicified or agatized wood.
5. Onyx. Like agate, is a layered chalcedony and opal, with layers arranged in parallel planes.
Precious stone agate
• Granular Varieties
1.Flint. Something like chalcedony in appearance, but dull, often dark, in color. It usually
occurs in nodules in chalk and breaks with a prominent conchoidal fracture, giving sharp
edges. Used for various implements by early man.
2.Chert. A compact massive rock similar in most properties to flint, but usually light in
color.
3.Jasper. A granular cryptocrystalline quartz, usually colored red from hematite inclusions.
4.Prase. Dull green in color; otherwise similar to jasper, and occurs with it.

Replica flint spear

 2.3 Feldspar group

• Feldspar is the name of a large organization of rock-forming silicate

minerals that make up over 50% of Earth’s crust. They are discovered
in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks in all components of
the sector. Feldspar minerals have very comparable structures,
chemical compositions, and bodily properties. Common feldspars
consist of orthoclase (KAlSi3O8), albite (NaAlSi3O8), and anorthite
(CaAl2Si2O8).
2.3.1 Physical Properties of Feldspar Minerals
Alkali Feldspar Minerals
• The alkali feldspars are as follows:
• Orthoclase (Monoclinic)[10] KAlSi3O8,
• Sanidine (Monoclinic)[11] (K,Na)AlSi3O8,
• Microcline (Triclinic)[12] KAlSi3O8,
• Anorthoclase (Triclinic) (Na,K)AlSi3O8.
Sanidine is stable at the highest temperatures, and microcline at the lowest.

Plagioclase feldspars
Uses of Feldpars

• Feldspar is a common uncooked fabric utilized in glassmaking, ceramics,

and to a point as a filler and extender in paint, plastics, and rubber.
• In glassmaking, alumina from feldspar improves product hardness,
sturdiness, and resistance to chemical corrosion.
• In ceramics, the alkalis in feldspar (calcium oxide, potassium oxide, and
sodium oxide) act as a flux, decreasing the melting temperature of a
combination. Fluxes melt at an early stage in the firing method, forming a
glassy matrix that bonds the opposite additives of the gadget collectively.
• In the US, approximately 66% of feldspar is consumed in glassmaking,
including glass containers and glass fiber.
• Ceramics (inclusive of electric insulators, sanitaryware, pottery, tableware,
and tile) and different uses, which includes fillers, accounted for the
remainder.
 2.4 Mica Group Minerals

• Mica is any of a collection of hydrous potassium, aluminum silicate

minerals.
• It is a kind of phyllosilicate, showing a -dimensional sheet or layer
structure.
• Among the most important rock-forming minerals, micas are located in all
3 foremost rock types—igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
• These sheets are chemically inert, dielectric, elastic, flexible, hydrophilic,
insulating, lightweight, platy, reflective, refractive, resilient, and range in
opacity from transparent to opaque.
• Mica is stable when exposed to electricity, light, moisture, and extreme
temperatures.
 2.4.1 Classification of Mica Group Minerals

• Chemically, micas can be given the general formula

• X2Y4–6Z8O20(OH, F)4, in which
• X is K, Na, or Ca or less commonly Ba, Rb, or Cs;
Y is Al, Mg, or Fe or less commonly Mn, Cr, Ti, Li, etc.;
Z is chiefly Si or Al, but also may include Fe3+ or Ti.

• Structurally, micas can be classed as dioctahedral (Y = 4) and trioctahedral (Y = 6). If

the X ion is K or Na, the mica is a common mica, whereas if the X ion is Ca, the mica
is classed as a brittle mica.
Common micas:
•Biotite
•Lepidolite
•Phlogopite
•Zinnwaldite

Brittle micas:
•Clintonite
 2.4.2 Occurrence of Mica Group Minerals
• Micas may additionally originate as the result of diverse procedures under several specific
situations.
• Their occurrences, encompass crystallization from consolidating magmas, deposition by fluids
derived from or immediately related to magmatism, deposition by means of fluids circulating at
some point of both contact and nearby metamorphism, and formation because the result of
alteration techniques—possibly even those caused by weathering—that involve minerals which
include feldspars.
• 2.3. 3 Crystal Structure
• Micas have sheet structures whose primary gadgets include two polymerized sheets of silica
(SiO4) tetrahedrons.
• Two such sheets are juxtaposed with the vertices in their tetrahedrons pointing towards each
different; the sheets are go-linked with cations—as an example, aluminum in muscovite—and
hydroxyl pairs entire the coordination of those cations (see parent).
• Thus, the go-related double layer is certain firmly, has the bases of silica tetrahedrons on each
of its outer aspects, and has a terrible charge. The fee is balanced by means of singly charged
massive cations—for example, potassium in muscovite—that join the go-linked double layers to
shape the complete shape.
• The variations among mica species rely upon differences within the X and Y cations.
 2.4.4 Properties of Mica Group Minerals
• The rock-forming micas (other than glauconite) can be divided into two groups:
• those that are light-coloured (muscovite, paragonite, and lepidolite) and

• those that are dark-coloured (biotite and phlogopite).

• Most of the properties of the mica group of minerals, other than those of glauconite, can
be described together;
• they are described as pertaining simply to micas, meaning the micas other than
glauconite.
• The perfect cleavage into thin elastic sheets is probably the most widely recognized
characteristic of the micas.
• The luster of the micas is usually described as splendent, but some cleavage faces appear
pearly.
• Mohs hardness of the micas is approximately 2.5 on cleavage flakes and 4 across cleavage.
• Specific gravity for the micas varies with composition. The overall range is from 2.76 for
muscovite to 3.2 for iron-rich biotite.
 2.4.5 Uses of Mica Group Minerals

• Their perfect cleavage, flexibility and elasticity, infusibility, low thermal and electrical
conductivity, and high dielectric power, muscovite and phlogopite have found large use in
software.
• Most “sheet mica” with those compositions has been used as electrical condensers, as
insulation sheets between commutator segments, or in heating factors.
• Sheets of muscovite of particular thicknesses are applied in optical instruments.
• Ground mica is used in many approaches which includes a dusting medium to prevent, as
an instance, asphalt tiles from sticking to each other and also as a filler, absorbent, and
lubricant.
• It is likewise used inside the manufacture of wallpaper to provide it a glittery lustre.
• Lepidolite has been mined as an ore of lithium, with rubidium generally recovered as a
by-product. It is used inside the manufacture of warmth-resistant glass.
• Glauconite-rich greensands have found use inside the United States as fertilizer—e.g., on
the coastal of New Jersey—and a few glauconite has been employed as a water softener
because it has a excessive base-change capability and has a tendency to regenerate
instead hastily.
 2.5 Carbonate Group
• The carbonates tend to be soft, soluble in hydrochloric acid, and have a marked
anisotropy in many physical properties (e.g., high birefringence) as a result of the
planar structure of the carbonate ion.
• Carbinate Group any member of a family of minerals that contain the carbonate ion,
CO32-, as the basic structural and compositional unit.
• The carbonates are among the most widely distributed minerals in the Earth’s crust.
• The crystal structure of many carbonate minerals reflects the trigonal symmetry of the
carbonate ion, which is composed of a carbon atom centrally located in an equilateral
triangle of oxygen atoms. This anion group usually occurs in combination with calcium,
sodium, uranium, iron, aluminum, manganese, barium, zinc, copper, lead, or the rare-
earth elements.
• The carbonates tend to be soft, soluble in hydrochloric acid, and have a marked
anisotropy in many physical properties (e.g., high birefringence) as a result of the planar
structure of the carbonate ion.
• There are approximately 80 known carbonate minerals, but most of them are rare. The
commonest varieties, calcite, dolomite, and aragonite, are prominent constituents of
certain rocks: calcite is the principal mineral of limestones and marbles; dolomite occurs
as a replacement for calcite in limestones, and when this is extensive the rock is termed
dolomite; and aragonite occurs in some recent sediments and in the shells of organisms
that have calcareous skeletons.
• Other relatively common carbonate minerals serve as metal ores: siderite, for iron;
rhodochrosite, for manganese; strontianite, for strontium; smithsonite, for zinc;
witherite, for barium; and cerussite, for lead.
• Carbonate minerals other than simple carbonates include hydrated carbonates,
bicarbonates, and compound carbonates containing other anions in addition to
carbonate.
• The first two groups include nahcolite, trona, natron, and shortite; they typically occur in
sedimentary evaporite deposits and as low-temperature hydrothermal alteration
products.
• The members of the third group generally contain rare-earth elements and almost
always result from hydrothermal alteration at low temperatures. Examples of these
carbonate minerals are doverite, malachite, and azurite.
2.5.1 Chemical Composition
2.5.2 Occurrence
• Carbonate is found frequently in geologic settings and constitutes an enormous carbon
reservoir. Calcium carbonate occurs as aragonite, calcite and dolomite as significant
constituents of the calcium cycle. The carbonate minerals form the rock types: limestone,
chalk, marble, travertine, tufa, and others.
• In warm, clear tropical waters corals are more abundant than towards the poles where
the waters are cold. Calcium carbonate contributors, including plankton (such as
coccoliths and planktic foraminifera), coralline algae, sponges, brachiopods,
echinoderms, bryozoa and mollusks, are typically found in shallow water environments
where sunlight and filterable food are more abundant. Cold-water carbonates do exist at
higher latitudes but have a very slow growth rate. The calcification processes are
changed by ocean acidification.
• Where the oceanic crust is subducted under a continental plate sediments will be carried
down to warmer zones in the asthenosphere and lithosphere. Under these conditions
calcium carbonate decomposes to produce carbon dioxide which, along with other gases,
give rise to explosive volcanic eruptions.
 2.5.3 Uses
Construction
• The main use of calcium carbonate is in the construction industry, either as a building
material, or limestone aggregate for road building, as an ingredient of cement, or as the
starting material for the preparation of builders' lime by burning in a kiln. However,
because of weathering mainly caused by acid rain, calcium carbonate (in limestone form)
is no longer used for building purposes on its own, but only as a raw primary substance
for building materials.
• Calcium carbonate is also used in the purification of iron from iron ore in a blast furnace.
The carbonate is calcined in situ to give calcium oxide, which forms a slag with various
impurities present, and separates from the purified iron.
• In the oil industry, calcium carbonate is added to drilling fluids as a formation-bridging
and filtercake-sealing agent; it is also a weighting material which increases the density of
drilling fluids to control the downhole pressure. Calcium carbonate is added to swimming
pools, as a pH corrector for maintaining alkalinity and offsetting the acidic properties of
the disinfectant agent.
• It is also used as a raw material in the refining of sugar from sugar beet; it is calcined in a
kiln with anthracite to produce calcium oxide and carbon dioxide. This burnt lime is then
slaked in fresh water to produce a calcium hydroxide suspension for the precipitation of
impurities in raw juice during carbonatation.
• Calcium carbonate in the form of chalk has traditionally been a major component of
blackboard chalk. However, modern manufactured chalk is mostly gypsum, hydrated
calcium sulfate CaSO4·2H2O. Calcium carbonate is a main source for growing biorock.
Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), pre-dispersed in slurry form, is a common filler
material for latex gloves with the aim of achieving maximum saving in material and
production costs.
• Fine ground calcium carbonate (GCC) is an essential ingredient in the microporous film
used in diapers and some building films, as the pores are nucleated around the calcium
carbonate particles during the manufacture of the film by biaxial stretching. GCC and PCC
are used as a filler in paper because they are cheaper than wood fiber. Printing and
writing paper can contain 10–20% calcium carbonate. In North America, calcium
carbonate has begun to replace kaolin in the production of glossy paper. Europe has
been practicing this as alkaline papermaking or acid-free papermaking for some decades.
PCC used for paper filling and paper coatings is precipitated and prepared in a variety of
shapes and sizes having characteristic narrow particle size distributions and equivalent
spherical diameters of 0.4 to 3 micrometers.
• Calcium carbonate is widely used as an extender in paints, in particular matte emulsion paint
where typically 30% by weight of the paint is either chalk or marble. It is also a popular filler in
plastics. Some typical examples include around 15 to 20% loading of chalk in unplasticized
polyvinyl chloride (uPVC) drainpipes, 5% to 15% loading of stearate-coated chalk or marble in
uPVC window profile. PVC cables can use calcium carbonate at loadings of up to 70 phr (parts
per hundred parts of resin) to improve mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation)
and electrical properties (volume resistivity). Polypropylene compounds are often filled with
calcium carbonate to increase rigidity, a requirement that becomes important at high usage
temperatures. Here the percentage is often 20–40%. It also routinely used as a filler in
thermosetting resins (sheet and bulk molding compounds)[ and has also been mixed with ABS
(Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) , and other ingredients, to form some types of compression
molded "clay" poker chips. Precipitated calcium carbonate, made by dropping calcium oxide into
water, is used by itself or with additives as a white paint, known as whitewashing.
• Calcium carbonate is added to a wide range of trade and adhesives, sealants, and decorating
fillers. Ceramic tile adhesives typically contain 70% to 80% limestone. Decorating crack fillers
contain similar levels of marble or dolomite. It is also mixed with putty in setting stained glass
windows, and as a resist to prevent glass from sticking to kiln shelves when firing glazes and
paints at high temperature.
• In ceramic glaze applications, calcium carbonate is known as whiting, and is a common
ingredient for many glazes in its white powdered form. When a glaze containing this material is
fired in a kiln, the whiting acts as a flux material in the glaze. Ground calcium carbonate is an
abrasive (both as scouring powder and as an ingredient of household scouring creams), in
particular in its calcite form, which has the relatively low hardness level of 3 on the Mohs scale,
and will therefore not scratch glass and most other ceramics, enamel, bronze, iron, and steel,
and have a moderate effect on softer metals like aluminium and copper. A paste made from
calcium carbonate and deionized water can be used to clean tarnish on silver