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  • Common Rock-Forming Minerals: Composition and Types
    The 20 minerals that make up most of the rocks in the Earth's crust are known as the common rock-forming minerals.

    These minerals are further categorized into two major groups:

    * Silicate Minerals: These make up the vast majority of the Earth's crust and are composed of silicon and oxygen, often with additional elements like aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, and others.

    * Non-Silicate Minerals: These are less abundant but still important components of the crust. They include carbonates (like calcite), oxides (like hematite), sulfides (like pyrite), sulfates (like gypsum), halides (like halite), and native elements (like gold).

    Here's a list of the common rock-forming minerals, highlighting their major categories:

    Silicate Minerals:

    * Feldspars: Orthoclase, Albite, Plagioclase

    * Quartz

    * Mica: Muscovite, Biotite

    * Amphiboles: Hornblende, Actinolite

    * Pyroxenes: Augite, Hypersthene

    * Olivine

    * Garnet

    * Kyanite

    * Staurolite

    * Sillimanite

    Non-Silicate Minerals:

    * Calcite

    * Dolomite

    * Hematite

    * Magnetite

    * Pyrite

    * Gypsum

    * Halite

    While there are many other minerals found in the Earth's crust, these 20 are the most common and make up the vast majority of the rocks we see around us.

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