the most abundant mineral group in earth's crust is
Mineral There are over 5,300 known mineral species; as of March 2017[update], over 5,230 of these had been approved by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA).[2] The silicate minerals compose over 90% of the Earth's crust. Silicon and oxygen constitute approximately 75% of the Earth's crust, which translates directly into the predominance of silicate minerals.
Mantle (geology) Mantle rocks shallower than about 410 km (250 mi) depth consist mostly of olivine, pyroxenes, spinel-structure minerals, and garnet;[26] typical rock types are thought to be peridotite,[26] dunite (olivine-rich peridotite), and eclogite. Between about 400 km (250 mi) and 650 km (400 mi) depth, olivine is not stable and is replaced by high pressure polymorphs with approximately the same composition: one polymorph is wadsleyite (also called beta-spinel type), and the other is ringwoodite (a mineral with the gamma-spinel structure). Below about 650 km (400 mi), all of the minerals of the upper mantle begin to become unstable. The most abundant minerals present, the silicate perovskites, have structures (but not compositions) like that of the mineral perovskite followed by the magnesium/iron oxide ferropericlase.[33] The changes in mineralogy at about 400 and 650 km (250 and 400 mi) yield distinctive signatures in seismic records of the Earth's interior, and like the moho, are readily detected using seismic waves. These changes in mineralogy may influence mantle convection, as they result in density changes and they may absorb or release latent heat as well as depress or elevate the depth of the polymorphic phase transitions for regions of different temperatures. The changes in mineralogy with depth have been investigated by laboratory experiments that duplicate high mantle pressures, such as those using the diamond anvil.[34]