Quartz

Materials

Silicon dioxide (SiO4). For silica glass and optical memory. Often makes up most of a planet's crust.

Resource Sources3

Quartz (SiO2).

A silicate crystal named by the Polish. Quartz and feldspar make up most of Earth’s continental crust.

Used in the creation of fabricator-aligned glass and ultra-long-term computer memory storage lasting billions of years.

Typically found as phenocrysts formed from cooling lava — but some local deposits have a telltale bioplastic matrix.

Hypothesis: a local coral gathers dissolved silica to grow quartz deposits.

Coral domes expel waste silica as they grow. Check the surface and interior of coral domes.

In areas where domes do not grow, quartz may be located in sandy areas.