Mineral Evolution, Mineral Ecology, and “Big Data” Mineralogy

Robert Hazen tackle two major themes in this deck:

1. Mineral evolution: The co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere
2. Mineral ecology: The search for Earth’s missing minerals

1. Mineral Evolution, Mineral Ecology, and “Big Data” Mineralogy DCO Summer School—28 July 2016 Robert M. Hazen, Carnegie Institution
2. Objectives 1.  Mineral evolution: The co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere 2. Mineral ecology: The search for Earth’s missing minerals
3. The Co-Evolution of the Geo- and Biospheres: An Integrated Program for Data-Driven Abductive Discovery in the Earth Sciences Paul Falkowski Andrew Knoll Robert Hazen Robert Downs Dimitri Sverjensky Peter Fox
4. Deep-Time Data Infrastructure Grethe Hystad Purdue, Calumet Dan Hummer, GL Chao Liu, GL Josh Golden Alex Pires Univ. of Arizona Stephan Zednik Marshall X. Ma RPI Sophie Kolankowski Anirudh Prabhu Congrui Li Shaunna Morrison, U.Az. Jihua Hao JHU
5. What Is Mineral Evolution? A change over time in: •  The diversity of mineral species •  The relative abundances of minerals •  The compositional ranges of minerals •  The grain sizes and shapes of minerals
6. What Is Mineral Evolution? Focus exclusively on near-surface (<3 km depth) phases. •  Accessible to study on Earth •  Most likely to be observed on other planets and moons •  Direct interaction with biology
7. A Comment on “Evolution” •  The word “evolution” has several meanings •  Change over time, as in Bowen’s “Evolution of the Igneous Rocks.” •  Implication of complexification •  Congruency •  But NOT Darwinian evolution!
8. Mineral Evolution New minerals form through a combination of chemical, physical, and biological processes.
9. What was the first mineral in the cosmos?
10. Supernovas
11. Diamond—The First Mineral Diamond Formed from: (1) an abundant chemical element, (2) with a very high T of condensation.
12. Diamond & Graphite Graphite Diamond
13. “Ur”-Mineralogy Pre-solar grains contain about a dozen micro- and nano-mineral phases: •  Diamond/Lonsdaleite •  Graphite (C) •  Moissanite (SiC) •  Osbornite (TiN) •  Nierite (Si3 N4 ) •  Rutile (TiO2 ) •  Corundum (Al2 O3 ) •  Spinel (MgAl2 O4 ) •  Hibbonite (CaAl12 O19 ) •  Forsterite (Mg2 SiO4 ) •  Nano-particles of TiC, ZrC, MoC, FeC, Fe-Ni metal within graphite. •  GEMS (silicate glass with embedded metal and sulfide).
14. Ur-Minerals
15. Mineral Evolution: How did we get from a dozen minerals (with 10 essential elements) to >5000 minerals (with 72 essential elements) on Earth today?
16. The Birth of Stars and Planets The Nebular Hypothesis
17. Stage 1: Primary Chondrite Minerals Minerals formed ~4.56 billion years ago in the Solar nebula by melting and cooling. ~60 mineral species
18. Stage 2: Alteration of planetesimals by heat, water, and impacts ~250 mineral species •  Feldspars •  Quartz •  Micas •  Clays •  Zircon •  Calcite (4.56-4.55 billion years)
19. Stage 3: Planet Formation
20. Stage 3: Formation of a “Dry” Planet ~300 mineral species? This is the end point of the Moon and Mercury.
21. Stage 3: Formation of a Wet Planet (4.5 to 4.0 billion years ago) ~420 mineral species (hydroxides, clays)
22. Stage 4: Granite Formation (More than 3.5 billion years ago) >1000 mineral species Partial melting of basalt and/or sediments. (pegmatites)
23. Stage 5: Plate tectonics (More than 3 billion years ago) New modes of volcanism, massive sulfides, high-pressure minerals Mayon Volcano, Philippines ~108 km3 of reworking
24. 1,500 mineral species High-pressure metamorphic suites (blueschists; granulites; UHP phases) Stage 5: Plate tectonics (More than 3 billion years ago)
25. Earth’s chemical and physical processes resulted in up to 1500 different mineral species. How did we get to more than 5000 mineral species on Earth today? The answer is life.
26. The origin of life ~4 billion years ago required some minimal degree of mineral evolution. Hence the co-evolution of the geo- and biospheres. Conversely, further mineral evolution depends on life. Sulfides Borates Clays
27. Stage 6: Anoxic Archean biosphere (4.0-2.5 billion years ago) ~1,500 mineral species (BIFs, carbonates) F. Corsetti, USC D. Papineau
28. Stage 7: Paleoproterozoic Oxidation (2.5-1.85 billion years ago) >4,600 mineral species, including perhaps >3,000 new oxides/hydroxides/carbonates Rise of oxygenic photosynthesis. Negaunee BIF, ~1.9 Ga
29. Hypothesis Approximately 2/3rds of all known mineral species cannot form in an anoxic environment. Most known minerals are thus a consequence of biological activity.
30. The Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen Kump (2008) Nature 451, 277-278. The Great Oxidation Event Led to 1000s of New Minerals
31. log fO2 ~ -72 What was the oxygen level in the Archean Eon?
32. Banded Iron Formations Late Archean (2.7-2.5 Ga) Western Australia—Karajini National Park
33. The “Great Titration Event” Cellular Scale 1. Directed Biomineralization Tom Price Mine, Western Australia
34. What iron minerals formed in the Archean Eon? Siderite FeCO3 log fO2 < -68
35. What was the oxygen level in the Archean Eon? Azurite & Malachite log fO2 > -43
36. >400 of 650 Cu Minerals Won’t Form Azurite & Malachite Aurichalcite Libethenite Dioptase Turquoise Linarite Brochthite & Linarite
37. Autunite Fourmarierite & Becquerelite Kasolite & Torbernite Boltwoodite >220 of 254 U Minerals Won’t Form Lepersonnite, Studtite ,& Curite
38. Annabergite Hellyerite & Zaratite Falcondoite & Willemseite Gillardite on Gaspeite Honessite >100 of 154 Ni Minerals Won’t Form
39. Roselite Kolwezite Erythrite Cobaltian caclite >50 of 64 Co Minerals Won’t Form
40. Crocoite Lanarkite, Leadhillite & Pyromorphite Descloizite Jamesite Beaverite & Cerrusite Ludlockite Leadhillite Pyromorphite >100s of Pb, Zn, Mo, Cr, As, S, Hg, and minerals of other redox elements won’t form
41. Before the Great Oxidation Event all minerals were restricted to -90 < log fO2 < -60. Only the most reduced mineral species formed. log fO2 (oxygen fugacity) 0 -20 -40 -60 -80
42. log fO2 (oxygen fugacity) 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 After the Great Oxidation Event minerals the redox range of minerals tripled to -90 < log fO2 < 0, thus opening the door for many new minerals. Hence, mineral diversity also tripled.
43. Co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere >4600 mineral species Changes in Earth’s atmospheric composition at ~2.4 to 2.2 billion years ago represent the single most significant factor in our planet’s mineralogical diversity.
44. Stage 8: The “Intermediate Ocean” (1.85-0.85 billion years old) >4600 mineral species (few new species) Oxidized surface ocean; deep-ocean anoxia. Sulfate-reducing microbes.
45. Stage 9: Snowball Earth and Neoproterozoic Oxidation (850 to 542 million years ago) >4600 mineral species (few new species) Glacial cycles triggered by albedo feedback. Skeleton Coast, Namibia
46. Stage 10: Phanerozoic Biomineralization (Less than 542 million years old) >5,000 mineral species (biominerals, clays)
47. Stage 10: Phanerozoic Biomineralization (<0.542 billion years old) >5,000 mineral species carbonate hazenite silica apatite
48. ROOTS: The Rise of the Terrestrial Biosphere Rhynie Chert (~410 million years old) Clays Rivers Clouds Fungi Microbes Worms
49. ROOTS: The Rise of the Terrestrial Biosphere First extensive production of terrestrial clay minerals
50. Co-evolution: Does Life Drive Plate Tectonics? Perhaps modern-style plate subduction is lubricated by clay minerals
51. The RRUFF Mineral Database Searchable Chemistry Filter Species List New Evolution Database >120,000 mineral-locality-age data
52. Hg Mineral Evolution The distribution of mercury (Hg) minerals through time also correlates with the SC cycle over the past 3 billion years, but there’s a gap during the “boring billion”. Hazen et al. (2012) Amer. Mineral. 97, 1013-42. The age distribution of detrial zircon crystals correlates with the supercontinent cycle. After Hawkesworth et al. (2010)
53. Age Distribution of All Transition Metal Minerals The supercontinent cycle
54. Age Distribution of All Transition Metal Minerals “Global Magmatic Shutdown” ~2.4-2.25 Ga (Condie et al. 2009) Plate tectonics “stopped”? Global glaciation events? SC stability/breakup?
55. Copper Strong redox and SC effects Increase in Cu2+/Cu1+ after 500 Ma
56. Manganese Mn minerals mirror the rise of oxygen Increase in Mn4+/Mn2+ after ~500 Ma
57. Transition Elements: Skyline Diagram
58. CONCLUSIONS Earth has transformed repeatedly, evolving over 4.5 billion years, and it continues to change today. Life and minerals have co-evolved as a consequence of many positive and negative feedbacks. Mineral Evolution: Co-evolution of Life and Rocks
59. Part II: Mineral Ecology We define “mineral ecology” as the study of the diversity and distribution of minerals in the context of their chemical, physical, and biological environments.
60. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions We have data on >5000 Earth mineral species (rruff.info/ima) from >150,000 localities and >650,000 unique combinations of mineral species and locality (mindat.org).
61. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions We have data on >5000 Earth mineral species (rruff.info/ima) from >150,000 localities and >650,000 unique combinations of mineral species and locality (mindat.org).
62. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions We have data on >5000 Earth mineral species (rruff.info/ima) from >150,000 localities and >650,000 unique combinations of mineral species and locality (mindat.org). Is there a quantitative relationship between mineral diversity and distribution?
63. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions The distribution of the >5000 known mineral species is similar to that of words in a book or biomass in an ecosystem.
64. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions REDWOOD FOREST ECOSYSTEMS Most of the biomass is in redwood trees. Almost all diversity is in small, rarer species.
65. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions UNSIGNED MANUSCRIPTS Most words are common: “a”, “and”, “the”. Rare words define diversity (and authorship).
66. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions Calcite Cinnabar Diamond Bobdownsite Hazenite 25,000 localities 3 localities Only 1 locality 700 localities 2500 localities
67. Mineral Ecology: Crystal Chemistry Mineral Ecology: Frequency Distributions FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF >5000 CRUSTAL MINERAL SPECIES: These data conform to a “Large Number of Rare Events” (LNRE) distribution, which allows statistical modeling of diversity-distribution patterns. Hystad et al. (2015)
68. Species Accumulation Curves in Ecology 0! 100! 200! 300! 400! 500! 600! 700! 800! 900! 1000! 0! 50000! 100000! 150000! 200000! 250000! 300000! 350000! Number of different OTUs! Number of Tags Sequenced! CSW1.1! CSWold! N08B! N08C! Count individuals Count DNA sequences
69. Mineral Ecology: Species Accumulation The number of reported mineral-locality data The number of approved mineral species Cumulative number of mineral species N (number of mineral counts)
70. Mineral Ecology: Species Accumulation At the start, new species are discovered rapidly. Cumulative number of mineral species N (number of mineral counts)
71. Mineral Ecology: Species Accumulation Data as of Feb. 2015: ~5000 minerals 652,856 counts Cumulative number of mineral species N (number of mineral counts)
72. Mineral Ecology: Species Accumulation Extrapolated into the future; an estimated 6437 mineral species exist on Earth today. Cumulative number of mineral species N (number of mineral counts)
73. Mineral Ecology: Species Accumulation We predict that >1500 mineral species have yet to be discovered and described using what are now standard techniques. But what are they? Cumulative number of mineral species N (number of mineral counts)
74. Carbon Minerals: Accumulation Curves 403 carbon mineral species, known from 82,922 locality data, conform to an LNRE distribution. We extrapolate that 145 additional carbon mineral species exist on Earth but have yet to be discovered. Data as of today: 403 C minerals 82,922 counts
75. An international quest to discover the >100 “missing” minerals that incorporate carbon. GO TO: mineralchallenge.net
76. With thanks to: The W. M. Keck Foundation The Deep Carbon Observatory NASA Astrobiology Institute Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Carnegie Institution, Geophysical Lab