The Inosilicates
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences,
Inosilicates, from the Greek inos, fiber, are characterized by polymer chains of SiO4 tetrahedra. The chains link to strips of cation-oxygen octahedra.
Pyroxenes
The textbook pyroxene chain is shown above. In reality, the zigzag structures shown below are much more common.
Pyroxenoids
Pyroxenoids have single chains, but because they either have too many or too few large cations, the chains are kinked differently from normal pyoxenes. As a result they lack the normal pyroxene cleavage.
Wollastonite
Rhodonite
Pyroxmangite
Pectolite
Amphiboles
Triple and Mixed Chains
Jimthompsonite (so named because the name thompsonite was already taken), Clinojimthompsonite and Chesterite aren't conspicuous minerals or very abundant. They are probably more abundant than we think simply because people don't look for them very often. But they are very important minerals because they was the first triple-chain silicates ever discovered. Chesterite, in addition, was the first mixed-chain silicate ever discovered, where double and triple chains alternate.
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Created 22 April 2013, Last Update