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Those siliceous rocks composed of an exceptionally high amount of crystalline siliceous material, mainly the mineral quartz (especially microcrystalline quartz and fibrous chalcedony) and amorphous opal, are most commonly known as chert. A wide variety of rock names are applied to cherty rocks reflecting their colour (flint is dark chert; jasper is usually red; prase is green) and geographic origin (novaculite of Arkansas, U.S.; silexite of France). The term chert is applied here to all fine-grained siliceous sediments and sedimentary rocks of chemical, biochemical, and organic origin. Two major varieties of chert deposits exist—namely, bedded chert and nodular chert. Bedded ...(100 of 17457 words)