Silicates & Quartz
Silicate
What it is
A broad family of minerals built from silicon-oxygen tetrahedra linked in chains, sheets, or frameworks. This category includes many structurally complex minerals that don't fit neatly into other silicate subgroups — from serpentine to prehnite to chrysocolla.
How it forms
Silicates form across the full range of geological conditions. Some crystallize from cooling magma, others from metamorphic reactions deep in the crust, and still others precipitate from mineral-rich hydrothermal fluids.
Si₄O₄ tetrahedra in various arrangements
Specimens
10 stones
Cavansite
Intuition · Third Eye
Found in gas bubbles of basalt.
Charoite
Transformation · Crown
Rare contact metasomatism in Siberia.
Chrysocolla
Calm · Throat
Secondary mineral from copper weathering.
Dioptase
Healing · Heart
Oxidation zones of copper deposits.
Epidote
Growth · Heart
Alteration of metamorphic rocks.
Hemimorphite
Healing · Crown
Oxidation of zinc ore bodies.
Okenite
Spiritual · Crown
Zeolite minerals in basalt cavities.
Prehnite
Healing · Heart
Cavities of volcanic 'flood' basalts.
Rhodonite
Love · Heart
Hydrothermal alteration of Mn ores.
Serpentine
Healing · Crown
Hydration of Earth's mantle rocks.