page_title: Silicate mineral
hierarchical_section_title: Silicate mineral
caption_attribution_description: English: Diatomaceous earth, also known as diatomite or kieselgur, as viewed under bright field illumination on a light microscope. Diatomaceous earth is a soft, siliceous, sedementary rock made up of the cell walls/shells of single cell diatoms and readily crumbles to a fine powder. Diatom cell walls are bivalve, i.e. made up of two halves, and are made up of biogenic silica; silica synthesised in the diatom cell by the polymerisation of silicic acid. This sample consists of a mixture of centric (radially symmetric) and pennate (bilaterally symmetric) diatoms. The primary uses of diatomaceous earth are for cleaning (scouring), filtration, heat-resistive insulation and as an inert absorbent substrate. One of the most famous uses was by Alfred Nobel who developed dynamite; a mixture of diatomaceous earth and nitroglycerin. This image of diatomaceous earth particles in water is at a scale of 6.236 pixels/μm, the entire image covers a region of approximately 1.13 by 0.69 mm.
context_page_description: 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 the Earth's crust.
  In mineralogy, silica SiO₂ is usually considered a silicate mineral. Silica is found in nature as the mineral quartz, and its 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 geologic cycle. For example, a type of plankton known as diatoms construct their exoskeletons from silica extracted from seawater. The frustules of dead diatoms are a major constituent of deep ocean sediment, and of diatomaceous earth.
context_section_description: 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 the Earth's crust.
  In mineralogy, silica (silicon dioxide) SiO₂ is usually considered a silicate mineral.  Silica is found in nature as the mineral quartz, and its 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 geologic cycle. For example, a type of plankton known as diatoms construct their exoskeletons ("frustules") from silica extracted from seawater. The frustules of dead diatoms are a major constituent of deep ocean sediment, and of diatomaceous earth.
caption: Diatomaceous earth, a biogenic form of silica as viewed under a microscope.  The imaged region measures approximately 1.13 by 0.69 mm.
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