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Industrial Geology SGL 358

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9 views

Industrial Geology SGL 358

Uploaded by

mktbalrsalt2
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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INDUSTRIAL GEOLOGY

SGL 358

BRIGHT STAR UNIVERSITY


CHAPTER FIVE

Silica raw material

Silica raw materials are defined as natural mineral resources with an SiO2 content generally
>95 M.-%.

Silica sand (or quartz sand) is the product of intense chemical weathering in which the
deleterious oxides have been broken down and removed. Deposits and occurrences are
created by removal from the weathering areas, transport and sedimentation.

Quartz gravel (or quartz pebbles) is an unconsolidated rock created by the weathering of
vein quartz and deposition in fluviatile environments. Pure deposits usable as quartz raw
materials are extremely rare.

Quartzose sandstones are sedimentary rocks primarily consisting of quartz grains and with a

siliceous cement. Quartzose sandstones have major potential for future use as SiO2 raw
materials.

Quartzite is a naturally occurring SiO2-resource with SiO2-contents >96 M.-%. The two
varieties, rock quartzite and cement quartzite are formed in different ways. Rock quartzite
is a hard cemented metamorphic, coarse, medium or fine-grained hard rock. It primarily
consists of angular quartz crystals welded together without any cement merely as a result of
formation pressure (cobble or mosaic structure). Cement quartzite (orthoquartzite, boulder
quartzite, or Tertiary quartzite) is a silica sand cemented together with colloidally dissolved
SiO2 which recrystallises to form very fine-grained cements. The proportion of cement
should be as high as possible for industrial applications.

Chalcedony is a crypto-crystalline quartz with a range of fabrics. Chalcedony is very valuable


as a highly pure and tough SiO2 material which has so far proven impossible to synthesise.

Chert consists of micro-crystalline to crypto-crystalline quartz (crystals mostly 1 to 10 μm


diameter) or chalcedony (radial fibres). These rocks are hard, compact, impact resistant,
tough rocks with conchoidal, sharp-edged fractures, a soapy lustre, weak edge-translucence
to complete transparency; colour: dark-grey to black, yellowish to reddish. The terms chert,
flint and hornstone are not used systematically in the literature. In recent years, numerous
authors differentiated for genetic reasons between „flint “and „chert“ within the overall
chert category. The term flint is used for cryptocrystalline SiO2 sediments in calcareous,
non-volcanic rocks; chert is the term reserved for cryptocrystalline SiO2 sediments in
volcanogenic-sedimentary sequences.

1) Quartz, cristobalite and opal

Quartz, SiO2, is, next to feldspar, the commonest mineral, occurring either in transparent
hexagonal crystals (colourless, or coloured by impurities) or in crystalline or
cryptocrystalline masses. It has a vitreous to greasy lustre, a conchoidal fracture, an absence
of cleavage, and a MOHS hardness of 7 (scratches glass easily, but cannot be scratched by a
knife). Quartz is composed exclusively of silicon oxygen tetrahedral with all oxygen atoms
joined together in a three-dimensional network.

Cristobalite forms small, opaque, milky-white crystals with a cubic appearance. It is


analogous to quartz in having low-quartz and high-quartz polymorphs; alteration is
associated with a change in volume of 2.8 %. Deposits occur in volcanic rocks, particularly in
andesites and trachytes (the name is derived from andesites occurring in San Cristóbal,
Mexico).

Opal, SiO2·nH2O, usually contains 4-10 M.-% water; opal loses this water relatively easily to
become fractured and white.

Deposit genesis

Quartz resources are widespread within the natural environment and occur in sediments,
plutonic and volcanic rocks (cristobalite, tridymite) as well as their metamorphic
equivalents. Low-quartz is present in all environments in which quartz is formed.

End uses

The highly pure quartz resources dealt with in this chapter (rock crystal, vein and pegmatitic
quartz) are used for various purposes including the production of:

− quartz/silica glass

− optical glass

− piezoelectric quartz
CHAPTER FIVE

− ultra-pure silicon (semiconductor quality)

− ferrosilicon, chromesilicon and Si metal.

When quartz is heated to over 1,700°C, the melt forms glass when cooled. The product from
the melting of rock crystal or vein and pegmatitic quartz is called quartz/silica glass. If quartz
is in the form of sand, the melted product is called vitreous fused silica/quartz

Precious opal is a prized gemstone.

Substitutes

Substitutes of comparable quality are difficult to find because of the common availability of
cheap and good quality silica resources. Piezoelectric quartz today is exclusively
manufactured from artificial quartz crystals because of their higher quality.

2) Chert

In general, all sedimentary deposits consisting of siliceous sediments or siliceous rocks with
>50 M.-% non-detrital SiO2.

Deposit genesis

The genesis of chert deposits can be subdivided into:

− primary formation:

a) Dissolved SiO2 from continental chemical weathering processes is the most important
source for extensive chert deposits. Most chert deposits are considered to be preceded by
opaline preliminary stages.

b) Dissolved SiO2 from the alteration of submarine volcanic material deposited as


amorphous siliceous sludge and diagenetically consolidated.

− secondary formation:

Erosion of limestone and chalk sediments causing the residual enrichment of weathering
resistant chert nodules, in Germany, primarily along the North Sea coast and Baltic coast
during the Quaternary.
End uses

Historically, chert was used for the following purposes amongst others:

− as an important material for the production of household and hunting implements (pre-
historic)

− for glass production („flint glass“) (in the UK)

− as a concrete aggregate

− for the production of bricks

− for millstones and grinding media (iron-free grinding)

− the production of ferrosilicon

− as an aggregate for industrial floors

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