Question

If you took random samples of minerals from several locations, which type of mineral would you likely have more of—oxides, silicates, or carbonates. Why?

Answer 1

You would most likely have more silicate minerals. Silicates make up by far the largest fraction of the Earth's crust (roughly >~90% of crustal minerals), so a random set of samples from varied locations will be dominated by them.

Why:
- Silicon and oxygen are the two most abundant elements in the crust, and silicate minerals are built from SiO4 tetrahedra that can link in many ways (isolated tetrahedra, chains, sheets, frameworks), producing a huge variety of minerals (feldspars, quartz, micas, pyroxenes, amphiboles, olivine, clays, etc.).
- Carbonates (calcite, dolomite) are common in sedimentary environments (limestone/dolostone) but are regionally concentrated, not ubiquitous.
- Oxides (hematite, magnetite, etc.) occur as important ores and accessory minerals but are much less abundant overall.

(If your sampling were restricted to specific settings—e.g., coastal reefs or limestone regions—you might instead get many carbonates, or near mafic/ultramafic outcrops many olivine-rich silicates, but for broad random sampling silicates dominate.)