Feldspar (including electrical insulators, sanitaryware, pottery, tableware, and tile) and other uses, such as fillers, accounted for the remainder. In earth sciences and archaeology, feldspars are used for K-Ar dating, argon-argon dating, and luminescence dating. In October 2012, the Mars Curiosity rover analyzed a rock that turned out to have a high feldspar content. 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
Sulfate crust Sulfate crust Sulfate crust is a zone observed in the axial (central) parts of burning coal dumps and related sites. It is a zone built mainly by anhydrous sulfate minerals, such as godovikovite and millosevichite. The outer zone can easily be hydrated giving rise to minerals like tschermigite and alunogen. The zone forms due to interaction with hot (even around 600 °C) coal-derived gases (mainly NH and SO) with the "sterile" material (i.e. shales and other rocks serving as the source of Al, Fe, Ca and other cations) in case of the lack of vents for the gases to escape