Scientists have revealed the mysterious origins of Earth's minerals, detailing their diverse formation over billions of years. They found evidence of the roles of water and rare elements in their development. Nature produced 40% of the recognized mineral species on Earth, totaling 5,659 types, utilizing more than 15 unique recipes to create their crystalline structure and chemical composition. The researchers discovered that water played a dominant role in the formation of over 80% of mineral types, while 41 rare earth elements—including arsenic, cadmium, gold, mercury, silver, titanium, zinc, uranium, and tungsten—are essential components of approximately 2,400 planetary minerals, according to Dr. Robert Hazen, co-author of the study and a scientist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
Nine out of the 5,659 recognized mineral types surveyed by scientists emerged through 15 or more distinct physical, chemical, and/or biological processes, ranging from almost instantaneous formation via lightning or meteorite impacts to changes caused by water-rock interactions or transformations under extreme pressures and temperatures over hundreds of millions of years. The scientists found that pyrite, known as fool's gold (since many gold seekers confuse it with gold due to their nearly identical color and shape), was formed in 21 different ways, making it the "champion of diverse origins." Pyrite can develop at high and low temperatures, both with and without water, aided by microbes, and in harsh environments where life plays no role at all.
In contrast, diamonds formed through at least nine methods, including condensation in the cold atmospheres of ancient stars, during meteorite collisions, and under intensely high-pressure and high-temperature conditions deep within the Earth. Onwei Lu, president of the Mineralogical Society and professor at the College of Earth and Space Sciences at Peking University in China, stated that "the remarkable work done by Hazen and Morrison provides a potential way to discover prospective minerals in nature predictively."
Minerals could be key to reconstructing the "past life" of Earth and predicting its "future life," and understanding mineral evolution could provide a new pathway for exploring deep space and searching for extraterrestrial life and habitable planets in the future. According to the summary of the research paper, the timeline for mineral formation on Earth suggests that most of this diversity originated within the first 250 million years of the planet's existence, raising curiosity about whether we are indeed alone in this universe.
The scientists explained: "If life is rare in the universe, then this view of Earth's early mineral diversity provides numerous reasonable reactive pathways over a longer timescale than previous models." However, if life is a cosmic necessity that emerges in any mineral- and water-rich world, these findings support the hypothesis that life on Earth evolved rapidly during the early stages of planetary development.
After considering the role of mineral formation, researchers arrived at a total of over 10,500 "types of minerals," a newly coined term that represents an increase of about 75% over the 6,000 mineral types officially recognized by the International Mineralogical Association. Dr. Hazen and his colleagues have changed the way we view minerals. In addition to chemical composition and physical properties, Hazen emphasizes the conditions and contexts of their formation.
Minerals become witnesses and markers of the long history of matter formed in supernova explosions, accumulating in planetary systems during formation, including on a planet like Earth, accompanying the emergence and evolution of life. The results of this study were detailed in the journal *American Mineralogist* on July 1.
