Battered, baked, boiled, condensed… Nature has used 57 recipes to create more than 10,500 over millions of years. Earth’s ‘mineral types’, according to a recent proposal to catalog them. However, it has been proven that water helps to form over 80% of mineral species and one-third originates from biological processes.
this pyriteSometimes called ‘fool’s gold’ because of its brilliance and worthlessness, the mineral is the mineral that occurs in 21 forms, in the most different forms: at high and low temperatures, with and without water, by or without microorganisms, pressure between meteorites, volcanoes, rocks, or mining-related processes, and others. But in all cases the crystal structure and chemical formula (FeS2) are the same.
It is approximately one 5,800 mineral ‘species’ recognized by International Mineralogical Association (IMA)for its English abbreviation), which classifies them according to their characteristics. chemical composition Y crystallographic structure. But now, after 15 years of work, scientists from the Carnegie Institution in the USA propose a third criterion: creationSo how did these minerals form?
Given this new aspect, the same mineral may have several different genetic mechanisms and out of about 6,000 known minerals. More than 10,500 ‘mineral types’ – this new concept – different.
this diamondsCarbon compounds, for example, appeared in at least nine forms, including in the atmospheres of ancient stars, when a meteorite struck, or condensation under very high pressures and temperatures deep within the Earth.
The new proposal to classify mineral types according to mechanisms that arose over the course of our planet’s more than 4.5 billion-year history, and even earlier, was published in two papers in the journal. American Mineralology.
“We do not currently ask IMA to support this alternative approach, but I suspect it may be in the future,” lead author Robert Hazen told SINC. it is about complementing what is already used: “It should not replace the efficient, simplified and basic system of the International Mineralogical Association.. It uses minimal information (in bits) to distinguish each mineral type, but we cover all non-ideal, diffuse, information-rich physical and chemical properties, which when taken together preserve a record of that mineral’s history.”
“In some cases,” he continues, “these attributes point to a distinctive environment, such as a star’s atmosphere, crystallization from magma, aqueous change, or lightning strikes. We can apply cluster or group analysis methods to relate all scattered data to these environments. In other cases, the origin of “We’ll have to work closely with geologists to uncover it, and it’s going to be difficult to standardize, but it’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our planet’s history.”
The authors identified them based on large freely available mineral databases (mindat.org and rruff.info/ima) as well as thousands of studies of the geology of their locations around the world. 10,556 different types of combinations and training modes.
57 different recipes, many of which include water and living things
The results show that minerals occur in one or more ways out of 57 different possibilities, for example as crushing at high pressure, igniting at high temperatures or condensation (direct transition from gas to solid) in volcanic fumaroles.
Of the species approved by the IMA at the time of analysis, 3,349 (59%) were identified by one route, 1,372 (24%) by two different treatments, 458 (8%) by three, and the remaining 480 (8.%) by four or more send more.
Nine minerals were born by 15 or more processes physical, chemical and/or biological, from almost instantaneous formations by the action of lightning or a meteorite, to changes caused by interactions between water and rock, or to transformations at high pressures and temperatures over millions of years.
“Minerals emerged in one or more ways out of 57 different possibilities”
Another relevant result of the studies, in which Carnegie researcher Shaunna Morrison and other US and Russian geologists participated, is as follows: Water played an important role in mineral diversity. Because it participates in the formation of more than 80% of the Earth’s mineral species.
“This explains one of the main reasons why the Moon and Mercury, and even Mars, are so much less diverse than Earth,” explains Hazen, while recognizing the potential offered by a large number of moons and exoplanets. : “There are many possible mineral-rich worlds with their own set of species and species. Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, has a very different mineralogy even in our own solar system.”
Another conclusion is that living organisms play a direct or indirect role in the formation of almost half of the known mineral species, and that a third of the known minerals – more than 1,900 species – are formed solely as a result of biological activities.
counted 77 biomineralsIt is formed by a variety of metabolic processes, from corals, shells, nettles, and microorganisms to those involving bones, teeth, and kidney stones.
72 more of these guano and urine of birds and bats. This listing is rare. sphenicidepenguins pee (order spheniformshence the name) reacts with clay minerals under a colony on Elephant Island in Antarctica.
“And we must not forget the indirect role of biology, such as the creation of a living thing. oxygen rich atmosphere [por parte de microorganismos] which led 2,000 minerals this wouldn’t have happened otherwise,” says Hazen.
Mineral evolution and origins of life
The authors point out that the birth of the oceans, the development of continental crust, and even the onset of some early subduction forms (the process that drove plate tectonics) between 4 and 4.5 billion years ago means that many important mineral formation processes took place. – until 3,534 species – occurred in the first 250 million years from the world.
“So many of the geochemical and mineralogical environments suggested by the origin of life models would have already existed 4.3 billion years ago,” they say. And if life is a cosmic necessity arising at any time, world rich in minerals and waterThese findings therefore support the hypothesis that a living and diverse mineral kingdom is rapidly emerging on our planet.”
Regarding its possible appearance in other parts of the universe, Hazen notes that “as for the origin of life, we don’t know enough to predict whether other worlds are better suited for producing biochemistry than Earth.”
Planetary geologist Jesús Martínez Frías from the Institute of Geosciences (IGEO, CSIC-UCM) values his colleague’s work: “These new and interesting papers are in line with his research, which highlights the links between minerals, life, and the earth’s geological vitality. If there is mineral geodiversity on Earth, these are thanks. intermediate links. It is precisely for this reason that astrobiology links the relationship between the possible emergence of life and subsequent biodiversity to two closely related concepts, geodiversity.”
La Palma example
“The Hazen line seems to me very important not only for understanding the mineralogical eruption and the origin of life on Earth, but also for predicting other planets and moons. We have an example in La Palma where we witnessed a new eruption and how these new eruptions happened over time. We’ll see. ‘virgin’ materials (volcanic rocks) will evolve geologically and mineralogicallyIn its interaction with the atmosphere, water, Earth’s global geodynamic cycle, and life itself, it transforms itself and gives birth to new ones”.
On the other hand, human activities they also affect processes related to mineralogical formation. In addition to incidental occurrences during mine fires, humanity has produced thousands of compounds similar to minerals, although they do not meet the requirements for recognition by the IMA: building materials, semiconductors, laser crystals, special alloys, gemstones, synthetic, plastic residues…
“Living organisms played a direct or indirect role in the formation of almost half of the mineral species”
They all tend to persist for millions of years in the geological record and provide a sedimentary horizon that supposedly marks the earth. anthropocene” points out the authors, led by Hazen, who received a medal from the International Mineralogical Society at its annual meeting in Lyon (France).
IMA president and professor at Peking University, Anhuai Lu also highlighted their recent paper: “The outstanding work of Hazen and Morrison provides a potential way to predictably explore potential minerals in nature. Minerals may be key to reconstructing all past life and predicting future life on Earth,” and understanding their evolution “will offer us a new way to explore deep space and look for extraterrestrial life and habitable planets in the future.”
Reference Study: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/msa/ammin/article-abstract/107/7/1288/614727/Lumping-and-splitting-Toward-a-classification-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext
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