Earth’s “missing” minerals

Abstract

Recent studies of mineral diversity and distribution lead to the prediction of >1563 mineral species on Earth today that have yet to be described-approximately one fourth of the 6394 estimated total mineralogical diversity. The distribution of these "missing" minerals is not uniform with respect to their essential chemical elements. Of 15 geochemically diverse elements (Al, B, C, Cr, Cu, Mg, Na, Ni, P, S, Si, Ta, Te, U, and V), we predict that approximately 25% of the minerals of Al, B, C, Cr, P, Si, and Ta remain to be described-a percentage similar to that predicted for all minerals. Almost 35% of the minerals of Na are predicted to be undiscovered, a situation resulting from more than 50% of Na minerals being white, poorly crystallized, and/or water soluble, and thus easily overlooked. In contrast, we predict that fewer than 20% of the minerals of Cu, Mg, Ni, S, Te, U, and V remain to be discovered. In addition to the economic value of most of these elements, their minerals tend to be brightly colored and/or well crystallized, and thus likely to draw attention and interest. These disparities in percentages of undiscovered minerals reflect not only natural processes, but also sociological factors in the search, discovery, and description of mineral species.

Advances and Opportunities in Ore Mineralogy

“…Sulphosalts represent a particularly fertile area of ore mineral research, with more than a dozen new sulphosalt species being approved since the publication of the report of the IMA Commission on Ore Mineralogy Sub-Committee on Sulphosalts [182]. It is also reasonable to expect that many of the predicted >1563 yet-to-be-discovered mineral species [183] will be identified in samples from existing or historical mine sites. Localities such as Tsumeb (Namibia), Långban (Sweden), Lengenbach (Switzerland), Shinkolobwe (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Franklin Accessibility to the nano-to microscale domain has permitted a better understanding of the critical mechanisms involved in fluid-mineral reaction.…”

“…It is also reasonable to expect that many of the predicted >1563 yet-to-be-discovered mineral species [183] will be identified in samples from existing or historical mine sites. Localities such as Tsumeb (Namibia), Långban (Sweden), Lengenbach (Switzerland), Shinkolobwe (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Franklin (NJ, USA) all feature in a listing of the top 10 localities in terms of the number of minerals, for which that locality is registered as the type locality, with 72, 72, 43, 38, and 35 mineral species, respectively [184].…”

Chance, necessity and the origins of life: a physical sciences perspective

“…In 2015, we discovered that the diversity and global distribution of mineral species follow statistical patterns analogous to the arrangement and frequency of words in a book [12][13][14][15]. Whereas a few words such as 'a', 'and' and 'the' are common in any book, the majority of different words are used rarely, many only once or twice.…”

On the nature and significance of rarity in mineralogy

“…Thus, some minerals are rare because they are exceptionally problematic to recognize in hand specimen; notably a pale color and lack of distinctive crystal morphology leads to difficulty in identification. For example, Hazen et al (2015b) noted that more than half of known sodium minerals are poorly crystalline and white or gray in color. Rare sodium minerals, thus, may be significantly under-reported, while a significant fraction of sodium minerals remains undiscovered.…”

“…In both domains, species that are difficult to discover by virtue of their bland appearances, small sizes, or inaccessible environments (category 4) may be much more common than are represented by reported occurrences (Zhang et al 2014;Hazen et al 2015b;Petsch et al 2015).…”