IT is well known that large, well-crystallized sheets of muscovite mica ... minerals. It has been recognized 4 that the rate of decomposition may be limited by diffusion of water from the lattice.

Minerals are typically formed when molten rock, or magma, cools, or by separating out of mineral-rich water, such as that ... Silicates—including quartz, mica, olivine, and precious minerals ...