They are part of the solid rocks.
It can also form gorgeous crystals.
It can also be turned into fine grains of sand.
Everywhere
2 oxygen + 1 silicon.
One of the simplest combinations of minerals.
The result of this combination is quartz.
In the earth's crust, the specific gravity of quartz group minerals reaches 126％
It can be formed under almost all kinds of geological processes.
It is one of the main rock-forming minerals.
The various forms of quartz come from different formation conditions, for example, it is also crystallized from acidic volcanic rock, but the temperature of crystallization is different, there are -quartz, -quartz, and scale quartz. When we talk about "quartz", we actually mean the most common of the quartz minerals - quartz.
The group of "heroes" competes for beauty
Quartz crystals in nature.
Different sizes and colors.
If the crystal particles are large enough to be seen with the naked eye.
It is called "crystalline quartz", such as various crystals.
If the crystal particles are so small that they can only be seen with the help of a microscope.
It is called "cryptocrystalline quartz", such as agate and chalcedony.
Pure, crystal-clear chunks of quartz crystals.
It is commonly referred to as crystal.
A trace element mixed with crystals in ionic form.
It gives the crystal a variety of colors.
Amethyst containing iron, manganese, titanium.
Citrine with iron.
Light rose pink quartz with titanium.
Radium-containing smoke quartz, citrine, ink quartz.
"Inclusions" of mineral impurities visible to the naked eye in crystals
Although it destroys the purity of the crystal.
But it creates a unique crystal form.
Such as "hair crystals" containing hair-like inclusions
A "ghost crystal" with irregularly shaped inclusions
Agate is available in almost any color.
And on the profile of each piece of agate.
There are concentric ring-shaped bands of different colors.
It is recorded like an annual ring on the wall of the cave.
The composition of the minerals that enter the cavity changes each time.
The color of the circle will change accordingly.
Opal is also transliterated as "opal".
It is a class of aqueous silica gels.
Opals are "amorphous" with no fixed crystal form
Strictly speaking, it does not belong to the quartz group of minerals.
It consists of cristobalite rudiments less than 1 micron in diameter and adsorbed water.
This adsorbed water is slowly lost.
As a result, cracks often appear inside the opal.
The light is diffracted and interfered to form a "change of color".
The main source of quartz in China
1.Liao-Yi-Henan quartz (sand) rock distribution area. From the northernmost Hunjiang River in Jilin Province through Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Shanxi to the south of the Henan Mountain, it is basically distributed in a north-east direction, and is strictly controlled by the Proterozoic and Sinian ore-bearing layers, which is the main mine-bearing area in China.
2.Sandstone distribution area in the Yangtze River Basin. It starts from Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, goes through Jiangxi to Hubei, expands to Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province in the north, and extends to Guangxi, Hunan and Guizhou in the south, which is the main metallogenic area in southern China.
3.Distribution area of placer mines on the south coast. It is mainly distributed in the southeast coast, from Jinjiang in southern Fujian in the north to Beihai in Guangxi in the south, which is the main distribution area of sea placer mines in China.
4.Tongliao placer ore distribution area. It is a vast area of West Liaohe-Liuhe, and the current mineral deposits are mainly concentrated along the Zhengzhou-Dalian Railway, which is one of the main bases of siliceous raw materials in northern China.
5.Distribution area of placer deposits along the Yellow River. Such as Lanzhou Hewan sand mine and Inner Mongolia Sidaoquan sand mine.
6.Suqian, Nanning, Dangyang placer ore distribution area. Controlled by the original sedimentary basin. The emergence of a single encouragement respectively.
7.Yinan quartz sandstone distribution area. Quartz sandstone is widely distributed in the Yinan area.
8.Liaoning-Fengyang quartzite distribution area. The distribution is relatively stable, and the deposit is large,**
The main types of quartz ore in China
China's quartz mineral resources are very rich.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
In 2017.
China's glass siliceous raw materials identified resource reserves 887.5 billion tons.
This is an increase of 6 compared to the same period in 20166%
In recent years, the identified resource reserves have maintained an increasing trend.
At present, the main quartz minerals in China are as follows.
1.Natural crystals.
The natural environment in which crystals grow.
Mostly in caverns, rock cracks or joints, faults.
Its growing conditions are harsh.
Four conditions must be met at the same time.
Plenty of room to grow
Able to provide silica-rich hydrothermal fluids
a certain temperature and pressure
Enough time to grow.
Distribution area: Jiangsu East China Sea is the most famous, Hainan Tunchang, Guizhou Luodian, Heilongjiang Tonghe, Sichuan Kangding, Fujian Zhenghe, Heilongjiang Yichun, Yunnan Funing and Guangxi Baise are all distributed.
2.Quartz sandstone.
A consolidated sandy rock.
The quartz and siliceous debris content is generally above 95%.
The secondary minerals are mostly clay minerals such as feldspar, kaolinite, and montmorillonite.
The heavy mineral content is very small.
The cementation is generally siliceous.
There are mainly opals, chalcedony, etc.
Siliceous cemented quartz sandstone is also known as siliceous quartz sandstone.
Furthermore. There are also calcareous, iron, glauconite quartz sandstones.
Dolomitic cemented quartz sandstone is rare.
Distribution area: China's quartz sandstone resources are abundant and widely distributed, such as Sichuan Jiangyou, Chongqing Yongchuan, Guangdong Dongyuan, Hebei Zanhuang, Hunan Lipu, Shaanxi Chenggu, Ningxia Shizuishan, etc.
3.Quartzite.
One is made of quartz sandstone or other siliceous rocks.
Metamorphic rocks formed by regional metamorphism or thermal contact metamorphism.
Its quartz associated minerals are in addition to feldspar, mica and clay minerals.
It also often contains trace amounts of tourmaline, hematite and zircon.
Compared to quartz sandstone.
Its ore is dense and hard, with high hardness.
Distribution area: China's quartzite resources are very rich, and the amount of development and utilization is large, such as Anhui Fengyang, Qinghai Delingha, Qinghai Datong, Qinghai Huangzhong, Qinghai Ledu, Jiangxi Suichuan, Shandong Qixia, etc.
4.Vein quartz.
Its formation is mainly related to the magmatic hydrothermal processes associated with granite.
Dense block-like structure.
Its mineral composition is single, and the SiO2 content is generally more than 99%.
Vein quartz deposits are generally small in size.
The occurrence is steep, and the ore body is irregular vein-like.
The thickness is generally a few meters to tens of meters.
The length is generally more than ten meters to several hundred meters.
A mine may consist of a single vein or multiple veins.
Distribution area: China's vein quartz mineral resources are widely distributed and have obvious resource advantages, but for a long time, the industrial value of vein quartz in China has not attracted people's attention, so the proven resource reserves and publicly reported ore deposits are still rare.
Compared with raw materials such as glass, ceramics and foundry sand, which are used in large quantities, vein quartz reserves are relatively small, making it difficult to mine and utilize them as industrial minerals for traditional purposes. With the wide application of quartz in strategic emerging industries such as electronic information, new materials and new energy, the industrial type of vein quartz deposits characterized by high natural purity of SiO2 is attracting great attention.
Quartz has a broad prospect in the future industry
China is a major producer and consumer of high-purity quartz. The low-end products are self-sufficient, some are exported, and the high-end products are still dependent on imports. In the future, high-purity quartz sand will have broad application prospects in strategic emerging industries such as optical fiber and cable, electronic communication semiconductors, LED lighting manufacturing and packaging, software chip manufacturing materials, solar energy, etc., and the growth rate of high-purity quartz demand is expected to be about 10 from 2019 to 20300%~14.0%。
1) Semiconductors.
The semiconductor industry is the foundation of the global information industry, and the wide application of semiconductor products has promoted the advent of the era of informatization and intelligence. The most commercially valuable semiconductors are silicon and some of its binary compounds, such as silicon carbide. These high-performance materials are widely used in the field of electronic information and are manufactured into various high-tech products such as chips with excellent performance. High-purity quartz is used in this field to produce higher performance elemental silicon as well as other compound materials, which have a wide range of applications in the semiconductor field.
2) Optical fibers.
The diameter of the optical fiber is less than 8 mm, and the digital data is transmitted through the optical fiber in the form of light, and the optical cable composed of optical fiber has an irreplaceable important role in the field of modern communication transmission, and quartz glass is the main material used to manufacture optical fiber.
In addition, high-purity quartz also has certain optical properties, it can form a polarized laser beam, using high-purity quartz as a window to manufacture fiber lasers with prisms, filters and timing devices.
3) Solar cells.
In the modern society that advocates green energy, people have a very large demand for solar cells, and the production of solar cells requires a large amount of high-purity quartz. High-purity quartz sand has high temperature resistance and good thermal stability, and is widely used in the manufacture of quartz crucibles for monocrystalline silicon, so that the demand for high-purity quartz in the photovoltaic industry is also very huge.
4) Electric light source industry.
Electric light source quartz products can be used to produce ultraviolet tubes, high-purity quartz tubes, transparent tube lamps, which are widely used in lighting and special light source industries, such as halogen lamps, HID lamps, sterilization equipment and LED lamps used in the semiconductor industry. With the acceleration of the substitution of LED for incandescent lamps, the market size and penetration rate of LED continue to increase, and the market demand for quartz tubes as raw materials for LED production will also increase.
The home of quartz.
Under the long-term action of external forces such as wind, water, glaciers, etc.
The quartz in the rock will gradually break down.
It turns into tiny grains of sand.
Other common minerals are less "resistant" than quartz
It becomes a smaller clay mineral during weathering.
Hence the grains of sand in nature.
Geology is defined as a diameter of 007 mm between 2 mm).
Most of them are quartz group minerals.
On the coast, the waves wash day after day.
Some minerals dissolve in seawater.
Quartz, which is stable in nature, remains.
It forms the backbone of the beach.
In desert areas, strong temperature differences between day and night and strong winds blow.
Large rocks are constantly breaking and decomposing.
Particles that are too fine in the debris can be blown away by the wind.
Eventually, it is mainly quartz sand grains that remain in the desert.
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The 2nd Anhui International Quartz Industry Conference and Exhibition 2024.