Feldspar Feldspar Feldspars (KAlSiO – NaAlSiO – CaAlSiO) are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals that make up about 41% of the Earth's continental crust by weight. Feldspars crystallize from magma as veins in both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock. Rock formed almost entirely of calcic plagioclase feldspar (see below) is known as anorthosite. Feldspars are also found in many types of sedimentary rocks. The name "feldspar" derives from the German "Feldspat", a compound of the words "Feld", "field", and "Spat", "a rock that does not contain ore". The change from
Alkaline earth metal magnesite, and dolomite. Common calcium-containing minerals are chalk, limestone, gypsum, and anhydrite. Strontium is the fifteenth-most-abundant element in the Earth's crust. The principal minerals are celestite and strontianite. Barium is slightly less common, much of it in the mineral barite. Radium, being a decay product of uranium, is found in all uranium-bearing ores. Due to its relatively short half-life, radium from the Earth's early history has decayed, and present-day samples have all come from the much slower decay of uranium. Most beryllium is extracted from beryllium hydroxide. One production method is sintering, done by mixing beryl, sodium fluorosilicate, and soda