How many boron minerals occur in Earth’s upper crust?

Grew, Edward S.; Hystad, Grethe; Hazen, Robert M.; Krivovichev, Sergey V.; Gorelova, Liudmila A.

doi:10.2138/am-2017-5897

Cited by 58 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…In addition, revealing the stabilization mechanism of w-BN must also contribute potentially to geoscience. Since boron is dominantly distributed at Earth's surface rather than the primitive mantle, boron-containing minerals are ideal tracers for understanding the recycling of crustal material back to the Earth's mantle (37). Natural c-BN (i.e., qingsongite) is the first reported boron mineral from the Earth's mantle, which has been thought not to form naturally in Earth for a long time (38).…”

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confidence: 99%

Stabilizing the metastable superhard material wurtzite boron nitride by three-dimensional networks of planar defects

Chen

Yin

Kato

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) is a metastable superhard material that is a high-pressure polymorph of BN. Clarifying how the metastable high-pressure material can be stabilized at atmospheric pressure is a challenging issue of fundamental scientific importance and promising technological value. Here, we fabricate millimeter-size w-BN bulk crystals via the hexagonal-to-wurtzite phase transformation at high pressure and high temperature. By combining transmission electron microscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, we reveal a stabilization mechanism for w-BN, i.e., the metastable high-pressure phase can be stabilized by 3D networks of planar defects which are constructed by a high density of intersecting (0001) stacking faults and {1010} inversion domain boundaries. The 3D networks of planar defects segment the w-BN bulk crystal into numerous nanometer-size prismatic domains with the reverse crystallographic polarities. Our findings unambiguously demonstrate the retarding effect of crystal defects on the phase transformations of metastable materials, which is in contrast to the common knowledge that the crystal defects in materials will facilitate the occurrence of phase transformations. metastable phase | superhard material | planar defect | electron microscopy W urtzite boron nitride (w-BN) has attracted intense interest due to its outstanding properties and potential applications. w-BN is a fascinating superhard material with a hardness next to diamond (1-3), rendering it a candidate material to replace diamond. w-BN is also a promising III-V group wide-bandgap material for advanced electronic devices because it has many properties superior to GaN and AlN, such as a wider band gap, higher thermal conductivity, and larger spontaneous polarization (4, 5). Since the first synthesis of w-BN in the 1960s (6), extensive efforts have been devoted to the fabrication of high-quality w-BN samples (7-11), the in-depth understanding of phase transformations between BN polymorphs (12-16), and the theoretical investigation of deformation mechanisms of w-BN (17). Unfortunately, such efforts are greatly hampered by the technical difficulties in stabilizing w-BN at atmospheric pressure. The w-BN phase obtained by the direct conversion of hexagonal BN (h-BN) at high pressure tends to recover to the h-BN phase after releasing pressure, and only a small amount of w-BN can maintain its structure (12,15,18,19). The prevailing synthesis method of w-BN is the shock compression of h-BN, which can only produce w-BN fine powders with micrometer grain size, and other BN impurities are readily introduced (7, 13, 20, 21). Synthesis of w-BN bulk crystals is challenging due to lack of efficient approaches for stabilizing the metastable high-pressure phase. Since w-BN is a thermodynamically metastable phase, w-BN single crystals cannot be fabricated by a dissolution and precipitation process. When BN crystals were recrystallized by solvent system, only h-BN or cubic BN (c-BN) crystals were grown at their stable pressure and temper...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stabilizing the metastable superhard material wurtzite boron nitride by three-dimensional networks of planar defects

Chen

Yin

Kato

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This total appears to be more reasonable when compared to the independent estimate of >15 300 minerals that could plausibly occur on terrestrial planets and moons throughout the cosmos (Hazen et al, 2015a). LNRE models have also been used to estimate the total number of missing mineral species for subsets of minerals, of which boron minerals have been studied in the greatest detail (Grew et al, 2016(Grew et al, , 2017a. In order to quantitatively evaluate estimates based on LNRE models, both the 295 B species discovered through 2017 and the 146 B minerals discovered through 1978 were modeled using a finite Zipf-Mandelbrot (fZM) distribution and a GIGP distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…One aspect of mineral ecology is estimating the total number of mineral species present in Earth's crust today, that is, starting with the minerals already known and estimating the number yet to be discovered, Earth's so called "missing minerals." This endeavor has attracted the interest of mineralogists beginning over 80 years ago when Fersman (1938) estimated that the number of mineral species in Earth's crust probably would not exceed 3000 (Grew et al, 2017a). However, a more quantitative mathematical approach to estimating the number of missing minerals only became available when Hystad et al (2015a) showed that mineral species coupled with their localities conform to a Sichel's generalized inverse Gauss-Poisson (GIGP) large number of rare events (LNRE) distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 2017 dataset gave 50% higher totals than the 1978 dataset, i.e., 459 ± 65.5 species (fZM) and 523 species (GIGP) versus 306 species (fZM) and 359 species (GIGP) for the 1978 dataset. This discrepancy was attributed largely to technological advances in analysis, most notably the electron microprobe, since the 1970s (Grew et al, 2017a), one of the arguments made by Hystad et al (2015b) to explain underestimates. Grew et al (2017a) also expressed doubt that even the~500 B species estimated from the 2017 dataset would be the "end of the story" because further technological advances as well as wider use of existing highly advanced technologies can be expected in the future.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lithium mineral evolution and ecology: comparison with boron and beryllium

Grew

Hystad

Toapanta

et al. 2019

ejm

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The idea that the mineralogical diversity now found at or near Earth's surface was not present for much of the Earth's history is the essence of mineral evolution, and the geological histories of the 118 Li, 120 Be, and 296 B minerals are not exceptions. Present crustal concentrations are generally too low for Li, Be, and B minerals to form (except tourmaline); this requires further enrichment by 1-2 orders of magnitude by processes such as partial melting and mobilization of fluids. As a result, minerals containing essential Li and Be are first reported in the geologic record at 3.0-3.1 Ga, later than Li-free tourmaline at 3.6 Ga. Spikes in species diversification coincides with increases in preserved juvenile crust and supercontinent assembly during the Precambrian Eon, followed by accelerated diversification during the Phanerozoic Eon. Mineral ecology concerns the present-day distribution, diversity, complexity, and abundance of minerals, including estimates of Earth's total mineral endowment, most recently by using large number of rare events (LNRE) models. Using Poisson-lognormal distribution and Bayesian methods, LNRE modeling yields an estimate of 1200-1500 total B mineral species, nearly triple the~500 species estimate made in 2017, and from~700 to~800 total species for Li and Be. In considering how the total number of mineral species came to be present in Earth's crust, it is important to keep in mind the distinctions and the interplay between two very different histories: the geologic history of mineral formation, and the human history of mineral discovery. Mineral diversity has increased both with geologic time and with historic time, but only the latter strictly pertains to the accumulation curves that result from LNRE modeling. The Li minerals reported from the most localities would be expected to be discovered earliest in the historic search for new minerals and to have appeared earliest in Earth's history. However, data on Li minerals imply that factors other than number of present-day localities, at present totaling 3208 mineral/locality counts, play a major role in mineral ecology. More significant are the unique formation conditions at a handful of localities that produced a diverse suite of Li minerals rarely replicated elsewhere. The resulting present day non-random distribution of minerals contributes significantly to differences in the probabilities among species being discovered, which can have a profound impact on LNRE modeling.

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“…Объектами настоящего исследования были три природных боросиликата -аксинит-(Mn) (манганаксинит) Ca 2 (Mn,Fe) 2+ Al 2 BSi 4 O 15 (OH) из известковых скарнов (карьер Бор, Дальнегорское боросиликатное месторождение, Дальнегорск, Приморье, Россия), корнерупин Mg 3 Al 6 (Si,Al,B) 5 O 21 (OH) из магнезиальных скарнов (Дараи-Стаж, ЮЗ Памир, Таджикистан) и лейкосфенит Na 4 BaTi 2 [B 2 Si 10 O 28 ]O 2 из специфических агпаитовых пегматитов щелочного массива Дараи-Пиоз (Алайский хр., Таджикистан). Аксинит-(Mn) относится к широко распространенным минералам, корнерупин тоже распространен в природе, тогда как лейкосфенит редок (Grew et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

High-temperature behavior of axinite-(Mn), kornerupine and leucosphenite

et al. 2019

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Термическое поведение трех природных боросиликатов изучено методами высокотемпературной рентгенографии, дифференциальной сканирующей калориметрии (ДСК) и термогравиметрии (ТГ) в интервале 25-1200 °С. Аксинит-(Mn) плавится инконгруэнтно при температуре 900 °С c образованием анортита и бустамита. Лейкосфенит выше 850 °С разлагается c образованием фресноита и кристобалита. При высокотемпературном разложении корнерупина (1177 °С-данные ДСК) после охлаждения фиксируются сапфирин, индиалит и шпинель. По данным высокотемпературной терморентгенографии определены ориентация и главные значения тензора термического расширения. Все три боросиликата при нагревании расширяются слабо и почти изотропно. Средние объемные коэффициенты термического расширения составляют 21.3, 22.7 и 32.9 • 10-6 °C-1 для аксинита-(Mn), корнерупина и лейкосфенита соответственно. Лейкосфенит имеет максимальное объемное расширение. Максимальной анизотропией термического расширения обладает наименее симметричная структура аксинита-(Mn) в области температур 600-900 °С.

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How many boron minerals occur in Earth’s upper crust?

Cited by 58 publications

References 90 publications

Stabilizing the metastable superhard material wurtzite boron nitride by three-dimensional networks of planar defects

Stabilizing the metastable superhard material wurtzite boron nitride by three-dimensional networks of planar defects

Lithium mineral evolution and ecology: comparison with boron and beryllium

High-temperature behavior of axinite-(Mn), kornerupine and leucosphenite

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