The impact of the earth's geological conditions on life is obvious. Different geological environments, such as deserts, mountains, forests and oceans, correspond to different creatures. However, the full impact of life on geology is easily overlooked, and now a new survey of Earth's minerals is correcting that, according to two studies published in the American Mineralogist on July 1, 2022. Scientific paper: About half of Earth’s mineral diversity is caused directly or indirectly by living things and their by-products. The significance of this discovery is that it can provide scientists with clearer insights into piecing together the complex geological history of the Earth, and can also provide valuable support to those scientists looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life.
An ancient biological ammonite-converted mineral, the picture comes from the Internet
According to the overview of Robert Hasson, Shawna Morrison and other scientists, they summarized a new mineral classification system, which will How the mineral is formed, not just its appearance, is given priority. The benefits of doing so are very obvious. It allows us to systematically understand how the geological development of the earth and the evolution of life affect each other, thus bringing new perspectives or insights. Their new classification is based on algorithmic analysis of thousands of scientific papers and identifies more than 10,500 different types of minerals, which is almost as many as the approximately 5,800 minerals in the International Mineralogical Association's (IMA) classic classification." Twice as "species", this classification focuses strictly on the crystal structure and chemical composition of minerals. You must know that the International Mineralogical Association’s Classic Classification is a classification system that has been used for more than 200 years. It is also the classification system that Guona Science and Technology Jiang studied and researched at the university and graduate levels. This is a system recognized in the industry.
Namibia azurite and malachite, pictures from the Internet
Shawna Morrison began digging into the literature of each known mineral as early as 2008 and looking for data on their formation. Then starting working with Robert Hasson at the Carnegie Institution in 2013, they quickly discovered that the data became blurred because many mineral species are actually formed by multiple different processes. Pyrite crystals, for example, form in 21 fundamentally different ways: When chloride-rich iron ore deposits heat deep underground for millions of years, some pyrite crystals form; others Formed in cold ocean sediments as a byproduct of bacteria that break down organic matter on the ocean floor; others are associated with volcanic activity, groundwater seeps, or coal mines.
Several different forms of pyrite, pictures from the Internet
Robert Hasson and Shawna Morrison believe that these different types of pyrite are telling us about the origin of the earth, the existence of life and how it came about Evolved over time. So their new paper classifies minerals by combinations of their types and their mechanisms of formation, then uses machine learning analysis to search data from thousands of scientific papers to identify a whopping 10,556 different minerals. In these papers, Robert Hasson and Shawna Morrison also identified 57 processes that alone or in combination produce all known minerals, mainly including: weathering, chemical precipitation, metamorphic transformation inside the mantle, lightning strikes, radiation, oxidation , massive impacts during the formation of the Earth, and even condensation in interstellar space before planets formed. At the same time, the paper also expresses the view that the largest single factor in mineral diversity on earth is water, which helps generate more than 80% of minerals through various chemical and physical processes.
A kind of blue-green malachite mineral, the picture comes from the Internet
However, scientists have discovered that living organisms play a crucial role. About one-third of minerals are formed as part of or by-product of living things, such as bones, teeth, corals, kidney stones , feces, wood, microorganisms, and other organic matter that have absorbed surrounding elements over long geological periods. Transformed into a more rock-like substance. There are thousands of minerals formed in other ways by life's activities, such as germanium compounds formed in industrial coal burning.Including substances produced through interactions with the by-products of life, such as oxygen produced by photosynthesis, about half of all minerals bear the fingerprint of life.
Diamonds formed deep in the mantle, pictures from the Internet
It is reported that although the new mineral classification is welcomed by some scientists, some scientists still support the classic classification method of the International Mineralogical Association. They believe that although traditional methods do not take into account the nature of mineral evolution, for application purposes, such as chemistry, mining and engineering, classical classification methods can still work well in these fields. However, in some areas, such as activities such as space exploration, new classification methods can come into play. Scientists believe that the mineral diversity of our blue planet may be much richer than other rocky bodies in the solar system. The reason is that many minerals cannot form on other planets, such as Mars, where there are no penguins in Clay minerals poop on it, and there are no bats in the caves or rotting cacti or anything like that.
Mars surface conditions, pictures from the Internet
Therefore, the new taxonomy created by Robert Hasson and Shawna Morrison can be used to decode the geological history of other planets or moons and search for life there. Clues, past and present. When studying Mars, for example, scientists could use the new mineralogical framework to look at features like grain size and structural defects to determine whether it might have been created by ancient microbes rather than a dying sea or a meteor strike. And the new taxonomy might even help detect life on planets around distant stars. Scientists believe that from a zoomed-out, large-scale perspective, through the new taxonomy, it is important to not only understand the planet we live on, but also explore the entire solar system and beyond the solar system, the Milky Way, and the entire universe. The meaning is self-evident.
solar system, the picture comes from the Internet
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