![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Spodumene-sd305c.jpg/640px-Spodumene-sd305c.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Silicate mineral
Rock-forming minerals with predominantly silicate anions / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Tectosilicate?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
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 Earth's crust.[1][2][3]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Spodumene-sd305c.jpg/640px-Spodumene-sd305c.jpg)
In mineralogy, silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) is usually considered a silicate mineral rather than an oxide 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.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Diatomaceous_Earth_BrightField.jpg/640px-Diatomaceous_Earth_BrightField.jpg)
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.[citation needed]