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Am Mineral 2020 Oct;105(10):1508-1535

Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, D.C. 20015, U. S. A.

The evolutionary system of mineralogy relies on varied physical and chemical attributes, including trace elements, isotopes, solid and fluid inclusions, and other information-rich characteristics, to understand processes of mineral formation and to place natural condensed phases in the deep-time context of planetary evolution. Part I of this system reviewed the earliest refractory phases that condense at > 1000 K within the turbulent expanding and cooling atmospheres of highly evolved stars. Part II considers the subsequent formation of primary crystalline and amorphous phases by condensation in three distinct mineral-forming environments, each of which increased mineralogical diversity and distribution prior to the accretion of planetesimals >4. Read More

Am Mineral 2021 Mar 1;106(3):325-350. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

Tetherless World Constellation, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, U.S.A.

Information-rich attributes of minerals reveal their physical, chemical, and biological modes of origin in the context of planetary evolution, and thus they provide the basis for an evolutionary system of mineralogy. Part III of this system considers the formation of 43 different primary crystalline and amorphous phases in chondrules, which are diverse igneous droplets that formed in environments with high dust/gas ratios during an interval of planetesimal accretion and differentiation between 4566 and 4561 Ma. Chondrule mineralogy is complex, with several generations of initial droplet formation via various proposed heating mechanisms, followed in many instances by multiple episodes of reheating and partial melting. Read More

Am Mineral 2020 Apr;105(5):627-651

Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, U.S.A.

Minerals preserve records of the physical, chemical, and biological histories of their origins and subsequent alteration, and thus provide a vivid narrative of the evolution of Earth and other worlds through billions of years of cosmic history. Mineral properties, including trace and minor elements, ratios of isotopes, solid and fluid inclusions, external morphologies, and other idiosyncratic attributes, represent information that points to specific modes of formation and subsequent environmental histories-information essential to understanding the co-evolving geosphere and biosphere. This perspective suggests an opportunity to amplify the existing system of mineral classification, by which minerals are defined solely on idealized end-member chemical compositions and crystal structures. Read More

Am Mineral 2018 Nov;103(11):1741-1748

Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Scienze Fisiche e Scienze della Terra, Università di Messina, viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina S. Agata, Italy.

In this paper, we report the results of the first study focused on the thermal stability and dehydration dynamics of the natural zeolite mineral ferrierite. A sample from Monastir, Sardinia [(NaKMgCaSr) (AlSi)O·17.86HO; = 19. Read More

Am Mineral 2018 1;103(8):1329-1334. Epub 2018 Aug 1.

Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822, U.S.A.

Adrianite (IMA 2014-028), Ca(AlMgSi)OCl, is a new Cl-rich silicate mineral and the Si,Mg analog of wadalite. It occurs with monticellite, grossular, wadalite, and hutcheonite in altered areas along some veins between primary melilite, spinel, and Ti,Al-diopside in a Type B1 FUN (Fractionation and Unidentified Nuclear effects) Ca-Al-rich inclusion (CAI), -3, from the Allende CV3 carbonaceous chondrite. The mean chemical composition of type adrianite by electron probe microanalysis is (wt%) CaO 41. Read More

Am Mineral 2015 Apr 1;100(4):824-836. Epub 2015 Apr 1.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A.

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity has documented a section of fluvio-lacustrine strata at Yellowknife Bay (YKB), an embayment on the floor of Gale crater, approximately 500 m east of the Bradbury landing site. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data and evolved gas analysis (EGA) data from the CheMin and SAM instruments show that two powdered mudstone samples (named John Klein and Cumberland) drilled from the Sheepbed member of this succession contain up to ~20 wt% clay minerals. A trioctahedral smectite, likely a ferrian saponite, is the only clay mineral phase detected in these samples. Read More

Am Mineral 2014 Apr;99(4):645-653

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, U.S.A.

Carbonate-substituted hydroxylapatite is the inorganic component in bone. The nanometer size of bone crystallites and their interweaving with subequal volumes of collagen fibrils make the chemical analysis of the bone mineral extremely difficult. The few chemical analyses that are available commonly were made on ashed bone, which, in addition to mineral, also includes chemical residues of collagen. Read More

Am Mineral 2014 Aug;99(8-9):1580-1592

Department of Astronomy, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 01075, U.S.A.

K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Fe, and Al perchlorate salts were studied to provide spectral and thermal data for detecting and characterizing their possible presence on Mars. Spectral and thermal analyses are coordinated with structural analyses to understand how different cations and different hydration levels affect the mineral system. Near-infrared (NIR) spectral features for perchlorates are dominated by HO bands that occur at 0. Read More

Am Mineral 2014 Jan;99(1):8-15

Department of Geosciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58108, U.S.A.

The carcinogenic potential of erionite has sparked concern about human exposure in areas where it is present in regional bedrock. The Arikaree Formation in western North Dakota contains altered tuffaceous units with authigenic zeolites. We sampled stratigraphic profiles in the Killdeer Mountains, Dunn County, North Dakota, to determine the distribution and chemical composition of zeolites. Read More