You may find it useful nonetheless. Diatomaceous earth is composed of the silica skeletons of diatoms. The clay-like form is finely powdered and is used both as a polishing agent and as a filter medium. The rock-like form is crushed and sold both as kitty litter and as an oil absorbent for garage use. One common name is oil-dri.
Diatomaceous earth has lots of surface area, like zeolite clays.
When mined, it has rather a lot of trace mineral ions already adsorbed so it is often used as a trace mineral amendment. It holds water well but also passes air freely. It shares that characteristic with the open-pore forms of agricultural pumice. I use it in place of pearlite. It is at least as good for encouraging drainage but doesn't float out the way pearlite does.