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Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth‘s continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO silicon–oxygentetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Especially in Europe and the Middle East, varieties of quartz have been since antiquity the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings.