Neosilicates

In nesosilicates the silicate tetrahedral does not share any oxygen molecules with other silicate tetrahedrals, and instead balances out its charge with other metals. The core structure of neosilicate is simply a lone tetrahedral silica unit (Figure 1). The empirical formula for the core structure of a neosilicate is SiO₄^4-.

Figure 1: The core of a neosilicate

Neosilicates make up the outer fringes of a group of minerals known as olivines.