Original file (762 × 1,203 pixels, file size: 812 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Summary
| Description |
Jasper from China. A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are about 5400 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates. The silicates are the most abundant and chemically complex group of minerals. All silicates have silica as the basis for their chemistry. "Silica" refers to SiO2 chemistry. The fundamental molecular unit of silica is one small silicon atom surrounded by four large oxygen atoms in the shape of a triangular pyramid - this is the silica tetrahedron - SiO4. Each oxygen atom is shared by two silicon atoms, so only half of the four oxygens "belong" to each silicon. The resulting formula for silica is thus SiO2, not SiO4. The simplest & most abundant silicate mineral in the Earth's crust is quartz (SiO2). All other silicates have silica + impurities. Many silicates have a significant percentage of aluminum (the aluminosilicates). Quartz (silicon dioxide/silica - SiO2) is the most common mineral in the Earth's crust. It is composed of the two most abundant elements in the crust - oxygen and silicon. It has a glassy, nonmetallic luster, is commonly clearish to whitish to grayish in color, has a white streak, is quite hard (H≡7), forms hexagonal crystals, has no cleavage, and has conchoidal fracture. Quartz can be any color: clear, white, gray, black, brown, pink, red, purple, blue, green, orange, etc. Jasper is an intensely red, microcrystalline to cryptocrystalline “variety” of quartz. The red is from hematite (Fe2O3). Jasper is really not a variety of quartz - it's a variety of chert, a sedimentary rock composed of very finely-crystalline quartz. Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed site in China Photo gallery of quartz and "jasper": <a href="http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3337" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3337</a> and <a href="https://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2082" rel="nofollow">www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2082</a> |
| Date | |
| Source | Cherry Creek Jasper (China) |
| Author | James St. John |
Licensing
- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
|
This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/40126258670 (archive). It was reviewed on 6 December 2019 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 03:04, 6 December 2019 | | 762 × 1,203 (812 KB) | Ser Amantio di Nicolao | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
File usage
Global file usage
The following other wikis use this file:
_(40126258670).jpg){kind=link}