Why is quartz one of the most common minerals found in sedimentry rocks?
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because Quartz (SiO) is very stable and resistant. Acid igenous rocks contain lots of quartz and thats what continents are basically ade of. These weather to produce sandstones, a very common form of sedimentary rock
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Pure quartz is clear and translucent, but natural quartz is typically tainted with impurities, and it takes on the color of those. Here are some examples:\n\n# Amethyst's color is due to an iron (ferric, Fe+3) impurity-induced color center\n# Citrine's color is due to an iron (ferrous, Fe+2) impurity-induced color center\n# Milky quartz's color is due to microscopic air, carbon dioxide, or water inclusions\n# Rose quartz's (crystalline) color is due to aluminum and phosphorus impurities - massive rose quartz's color is due to microscopic and, as yet, unidentified dumortierite-like fibers\n# Smoky quartz's color is due to an aluminum impurity-induced color center aided by natural irradiation
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Agate & Quartz are both composed of SiO2 or silicon dioxide.\n\nAgate is a cryptocrystalline version of quartz.(very small, as not to be seen with the naked eye, crystals) \n\nAgate is formed in sedimentary deposits from dissolved quartz that is redeposited. This is usually near the surface where there is lower pressure & temperatures.\n\nMany times agate is found as geodes. These are really cool. Sometimes they fill in completely w/ layers of silica. Other minerals may be present as to make color bands. Other times the geode will not fill completely in before crystals start forming. WOW! Love these!\n\nSometimes from the process mentioned above, cryptocrystalline silica will seep into bones & remnants of tree trunks. Ever seen petrified wood? OF course this is not the only mineral that will do this in wood & bones.\n\nOpals are also a variety of quartz. It contains minute amounts of water in its structure. The only difference here is that opals are amorphous meaning that there are no crystals.\n\nSilicon Dioxide is the most abundant mineral in the earth's crust. It is found everywhere and in all kinds of forms.\n\n:)
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hardness, luster, clevage, composition, crystal structure\n\niron is useful also in the mineral gypsum they use it to make drywall\n\nmost gems are valueable because they form extremely slow making them rare, they are also the very hardest type of mineral
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Because of the presence of other minerals in the silicon dioxide.
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"A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes" (Nickel, E. H., 1995).\n\nA rock can be composed of lots of different minerals
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This depends on the mineral being formed. For instance, silicate based minerals (from igneous rocks) are fromed by the cooling effect of molten lava. The size of the mineral formed is dependant on the length of time the 'lava' has to cool. This process is called crystalisation. \nIn sedimentary rocks, minerals are formed by erosion, chemical changes, de-salination (extraction of water, although the mineral was present in the water to start with i.e halite), pressure and temperature.
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Metamorphic rocks are already existing rocks that change under heat, pressure or in chemical reactions (usually underground). Examples are Gneiss (that froms from Granite), Slate (formed from Shale), and Quartzite (formed from Sandstone).\n\nSedimentary rocks are rocks made from sediment (haha makes sense, no?) which can be both organic (fossils!) or inorganic. They are formed into a solid rock through a variety of different forces, including erosion, deposition, compaction, and cementation. There are 3 major groups of sedimentary rocks, which are clastic (formed from the compression of rock fragments), organic rocks (Key word: ORGANIC, aka the remains of plants and animals), and chemical rocks (formed when a solution dissolves, & minerals are left behind). Examples:\nClastic: Shale, Sandstone, Conglomerate, and Breecia\nOrganic: Coal, Limestone\nChemical: Halite, Gypsum\n\nIgneous rocks are formed from magma or lava. They are classifed according to where they were formed-- extrusive rocks are formed from lava on Earth's surface, while intrusive rocks are formed from hardened magma beneath Earth's surface. Texture and mineral composition are also factors of classification. Examples include granite (which is extremely abundant), Rhyolite, Pegmatite, Porphyry, Basalt, Pumice, and Obsidian.
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Feldspar is the name of an important group of rock-forming minerals which make up perhaps as much as 60% of the Earth's crust. Feldspars crystallize from magma in both intrusive and extrusive rocks; they occur as compact minerals, as veins, and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock. Rock formed entirely of plagioclase feldspar (see below) is known as anorthosite. Feldspars are also found in many types of sedimentary rock.\n\nThis group of minerals consists of framework or tectosilicates:\n\n- orthoclase a potassium-aluminium silicate,\n- microcline also a potassium-aluminium silicate, and\n- plagioclase a sodium-aluminium silicate to a calcium-aluminium silicate isomorphous series:\n          o albite\n          o oligoclase\n          o andesine\n          o labradorite\n          o bytownite\n          o anorthite.
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Uranium is a naturally occurring element found at low levels in virtually all rock, soil, and water. It is considered to be more plentiful than antimony, beryllium, cadmium, gold, mercury, silver, or tungsten and is about as abundant as arsenic or molybdenum. It is found in many minerals including uraninite (most common uranium ore), autunite, uranophane, torbernite, and coffinite. Significant concentrations of uranium occur in some substances such as phosphate rock deposits, and minerals such as lignite, and monazite sands in uranium-rich ores (it is recovered commercially from these sources).\n\nThe decay of uranium, thorium and potassium-40 in the Earth's mantle is thought to be the main source of heat[5][6] that keeps the outer core liquid and drives mantle convection, which in turn drives plate tectonics.\n\nYou can find deposits of uranium by using a Geiger counter or by looking for other kinds of rock that uranium is found near.\n\nPlutonium, on the other hand, is not naturally occuring.  You can make plutonium by "enriching" uranium in special reactors.
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Igneous.  Not sedimentery because those are made up of worn down other rocks, and not metamorphic because they are rocks that were originially another sort of rock.
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There are many different sedimentary rocks but only three basic causes.\n\nFirst is where rock is weathered out and is washed down into valleys and rivers where it forms a mud and is then pressured to turn into rock.\n\nThe other is the sea floor where the same silt settles and becomes a thick layer over the years.  Then either the sea recedes or the land is thrust up leaving the mud high and dry as sedimentary rock.\n\nLastly we have limestone and chalk where sea creatures die, sink to the ocean floor and accumulate.  This then follows the same upthrust or ebb of the sea and is exposed as rock on the mainland.
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If you mean how did they form...\n\nOpals form from hydrothermal solutions containing silicon dioxide. That simply means heated water containing dissolved quartz.\n\nThese solutions are deposited in sedimentary rocks where they come out of solution. Sedimentary rock is where you find opals.\n\nOpals contain small amounts of water in its structure. That is what gives it its "play of colors".\n\nIt is often referred to as hydrated silica & is called cryptocrystalline quartz because it is essentially quartz without a crystal structure.\n\nSome of the world's most beautiful opals come from Australia & Mexico. The ones found in Mexico often have a reddish "play of colors" & is called fire opal.
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Igneous rock becomes sedimentary rock by weathering and erosion which makes sediments. The sediments then is deposited and is cemented together to cause sedimentary rock.
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Sedimentary:\nAndesite is an igneous rock with feldspar, quartz, pyroxene, biotite and hornblende minerals in it. The feldspar, pyroxene, biotite and hornblende will weather out to become clay. In some situations they may become grains or clasts. The quartz will become grains. So they will become shale and sandstone (possibly conglomerate), depending on the amount of weathering. \n\nMetamorphic:\nAssuming you mean direct metamorphism of andesite, the andesite will become greenstone, greenschist, amphibolite, or granulite depending on the degree of metamorphism.\n\nIf you are having trouble figuring out the different metamorphic series go here and click on the links marked by "rock cycle stage" to see diagrams:\nhttp://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/Fichter/Wilson/Rkcyckey.html
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you need to see whethre the "grains " ae INTERLOCKING, or fixed togethre with a cement. Interlocking grains, whee there are no spaces between them (the "grains" wi be crstals of quartz, felspar and ther minerals depending on type of rock) are indicative of an igneous rock. (or metamorphic) rock. sdimentar rocks are generally made of "clasts" or grains cemented together with a matrix or cement. here are some exceptions to this like evaporites, eg rock salt.
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Erosion breaks up igneous and metamorphic rocks, and the particles build up to create sedimentary rocks.  \n\nHope this is helpful.