An introduction to minerals and rocks under the microscope
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Figure 42 Structural classification of common silicate minerals, based on polymerisation of the silicate tetrahedron. The ratio of the tetrahedral (T) sites to oxygen (O) sites increases with polymerisation as more oxygen atoms are shared between tetrahedral sites. The structures shown are only very small parts of what are effectively infinite structures. The right-hand column of the diagram illustrates how the atomic structures affect mineral properties.