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felsic igneous rocks metamorphic rocks pegmatites

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Potassium Feldspar

US

GS

Glassy sanidine crystals exhibit a distinctive bluish iridescence and are commonly known as moonstones.

Amazonstone is a variety of microcline that has a distinctive

bright green color.

Perthite is any gemstone feldspar variety that consists of thin alternating bands of potassium feldspar and plagioclase that gives the mineral sample a distinctive striped pattern.

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Over half the Earth’s crust is composed of a

single group of minerals known as the feldspars.

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Potassium feldspar minerals are in granite.

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Potassium feldspar minerals are in building stones.

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Ground-up feldspar is mixed with clay and quartz, and then fired to form a wide range of ceramic and porcelain products: from fine pottery and dinnerware, to sinks, bathtubs, electrical insulators, and floor tiles.

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Feldspars are used in the manufacture of glass and scouring powder.

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Feldspars are in tarred roofing materials, as well as in glass wool insulation materials.

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Feldspars are used as sizing or filler in textiles and paper.

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Feldspars are used in the manufacture of enamel.

As feldspar minerals weather into smaller pieces, they form sand, clay, and mud. Once those sediments harden, they become sandstones and shales.

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Water will react with feldspars to produce a host of clay minerals.

In dry climates mud is used to form the walls of houses

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Feldspars weather to clays that are used to

make ceramics.

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Feldspar minerals are

also important in glazes

As feldspars breakdown under the intense weathering conditions of tropical climates, almost all of the feldspar is dissolved away except for some hydrous aluminum oxide minerals that are left behind. These concentrated deposits of aluminum ores are collectively called bauxite and are our major source of aluminum.

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As feldspars weather they produce

aluminum ores

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Feldspars are often in concrete and asphalt as aggregate.

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d: x

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felsic igneous rocks metamorphic rocks pegmatites

by-

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a: R

on

Sch

ott

by-nc-sa

: Mo

las

Potassium Feldspar

US

GS

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Funded by FIPSE and by the University of Minnesota. Compiled for Dr. Kent Kirkby, Department of Geology and Geophysics, by Kate Rosok, 2007. Each displayed image

retains its original media rights. For educational purposes only; not to be used commercially.

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by-nd

by-sa

by-nc-ndCre

ativ

e C

omm

ons

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nses

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