Journal
AMERICAN MINERALOGIST
Volume 98, Issue 11-12, Pages 2007-2029Publisher
MINERALOGICAL SOC AMER
DOI: 10.2138/am.2013.4425
Keywords
Clay minerals; biominerals; weathering; diagenesis; Mars mineralogy
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Funding
- National Science Foundation
- NASA Astrobiology Institute
- Deep Carbon Observatory
- Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C.
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Changes in the mechanisms of formation and global distribution of phyllosilicate clay minerals through 4.567 Ga of planetary evolution in our solar system reflect evolving tectonic, geochemical, and biological processes. Clay minerals were absent prior to planetesimal formation similar to 4.6 billion years ago but today are abundant in all near-surface Earth environments. New clay mineral species and modes of clay mineral paragenesis occurred as a consequence of major events in Earth's evolution notably the formation of a mafic crust and oceans, the emergence of granite-rooted continents, the initiation of plate tectonics and subduction, the Great Oxidation Event, and the rise of the terrestrial biosphere. The changing character of clay minerals through time is thus an important part of Earth's mineralogical history and exemplifies the principles of mineral evolution.
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