feart-08-00208 August 25, 2020 Time: 17:50 # 1 REVIEW published: 27 August 2020 doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.00208 Exploring Carbon Mineral Systems: Recent Advances in C Mineral Evolution, Mineral Ecology, and Network Analysis Shaunna M. Morrison1*, Joy Buongiorno1, Robert T. Downs2, Ahmed Eleish3, Peter Fox3, Donato Giovannelli4,5,6,7*, Joshua J. Golden2, Daniel R. Hummer8, Grethe Hystad9, Louise H. Kellogg10, Oliver Kreylos10, Sergey V. Krivovichev11, Chao Liu1, Andrew Merdith12, Anirudh Prabhu3, Jolyon Ralph13, Simone E. Runyon14, Sabin Zahirovic12 and Robert M. Hazen1 1 2 Edited by: Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, United States, Department 3 Carmen Sanchez-Valle, of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 4 University of Münster, Germany Tetherless World Constellation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, United States, Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy, 5 Institute for Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnology, National Research Council Reviewed by: of Italy, Ancona, Italy, 6 Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Siobhan A. Wilson, Brunswick, NJ, United States, 7 Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, 8 School of Earth University of Alberta, Canada Systems and Sustainability, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, United States, 9 Department of Mathematics, Fabrice Brunet, Statistics and Computer Science, Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, IN, United States, 10 Department of Earth UMR 5275 Institut des Sciences de la and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States, 11 Kola Science Centre of the Russian Terre (ISTERRE), France Academy of Sciences, Apatity, Russia, 12 EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, *Correspondence: Australia, 13 Mindat.org, Mitcham, United Kingdom, 14 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Shaunna M. Morrison Laramie, WY, United States [email protected] Donato Giovannelli [email protected] Large and growing data resources on the spatial and temporal diversity and distribution of the more than 400 carbon-bearing mineral species reveal patterns of mineral evolution Specialty section: and ecology. Recent advances in analytical and visualization techniques leverage This article was submitted to Earth and Planetary Materials, these data and are propelling mineralogy from a largely descriptive field into one of a section of the journal prediction within complex, integrated, multidimensional systems. These discoveries Frontiers in Earth Science include: (1) systematic changes in the character of carbon minerals and their networks Received: 30 June 2019 of coexisting species through deep time; (2) improved statistical predictions of the Accepted: 19 May 2020 Published: 27 August 2020 number and types of carbon minerals that occur on Earth but are yet to be discovered Citation: and described; and (3) a range of proposed and ongoing studies related to the Morrison SM, Buongiorno J, quantification of network structures and trends, relation of mineral “natural kinds” to their Downs RT, Eleish A, Fox P, Giovannelli D, Golden JJ, genetic environments, prediction of the location of mineral species across the globe, Hummer DR, Hystad G, Kellogg LH, examination of the tectonic drivers of mineralization through deep time, quantification Kreylos O, Krivovichev SV, Liu C, of preservational and sampling bias in the mineralogical record, and characterization of Merdith A, Prabhu A, Ralph J, Runyon SE, Zahirovic S and feedback relationships between minerals and geochemical environments with microbial Hazen RM (2020) Exploring Carbon populations. These aspects of Earth’s carbon mineralogy underscore the complex co- Mineral Systems: Recent Advances in C Mineral Evolution, Mineral evolution of the geosphere and biosphere and highlight the possibility for scientific Ecology, and Network Analysis. discovery in Earth and planetary systems. Front. Earth Sci. 8:208. doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.00208 Keywords: carbon, mineral evolution, mineral ecology, network analysis, carbon minerals Frontiers in Earth Science| www.frontiersin.org 1 August 2020| Volume 8| Article 208 feart-08-00208 August 25, 2020 Time: 17:50 # 2 Morrison et al. Exploring Carbon Mineral Systems INTRODUCTION series of databases with the goal of providing robust, diverse mineralogical data, including high-quality chemical, spectral, and Minerals, including carbon-bearing phases, are the oldest diffraction data, the IMA list of approved mineral species, the available materials from the ancient history of our planet and American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database (AMCSD; other bodies in our solar system – they record information about RRUFF.geo.arizona.edu/AMS/amcsd.php), mineral locality age their genetic environments and any subsequent weathering information (see “Mineral Evolution Database” section below), and alteration they underwent, offering a glimpse of ancient and other mineral properties (see “Mineral Properties Database” environments through deep time. In this work, we describe section below). The IMA list allows users to search the over some of the important carbon mineral data resources, outline 5400 (as of June 2019) mineral species by name, chemical a number of new advances in data-driven discovery in carbon composition, unit-cell parameters and crystallography, crystal and other mineral systems, including new insights from structure group, paragenetic mode, and the availability of mineral network visualizations and statistical modeling. We ancillary data including crystal structure files in the AMCSD also preview upcoming studies and directions of research or direct RRUFF Project analyses. This database also provides related to the diversity and distribution of mineral species, useful information about each mineral species, including statistical modeling of complex, multidimensional data objects composition, oldest known age, crystal structure group, and and their underlying trends, tectonic drivers of mineralization, unit-cell parameters along with corresponding compositions, characterization of relationships between microbial populations, all of which can be downloaded in a number of machine- their expressed protein functions and the geochemical readable file formats. Lastly, this page offers links to a number environment, quantification of preservational and sampling of related informational pages and websites, including the bias present in the mineralogical record, and a number of Handbook of Mineralogy (Anthony et al., 2003), measured predictive algorithms including those which predict formational data in RRUFF Project databases, crystal structure files in environments of minerals as well as the location of previously the AMCSD, mineral locality information at Mindat.org (see unknown mineral localities. “Mindat.org” section below), and age and locality data in the Carbon minerals are particularly compelling for multi- Mineral Evolution Database (MED). dimensional analysis due to their diverse range of bonding behaviors, paragenetic modes, mineral properties, and ages. The Mineral Evolution Database (MED) Carbon minerals are some of the first condensed phases formed The Mineral Evolution Database (MED; RRUFF.info/Evolution; in a solar system and among the hardest materials known, Golden et al., 2016; Prabhu et al., 2020) was created to support yet carbon minerals are also some of the latest occurring and mineral evolution and ecology studies – studies that examine most ephemeral crystalline phases. Carbon has the ability to and characterize spatial and temporal mineral diversity and behave as a cation, anion, or neutral atom, allowing bonding distribution in relation to geologic, biologic, and planetary with itself and 80+ other elements, with a variety of bonding processes (Hazen et al., 2008, 2011, 2013c,b, 2014, 2015a,b, coordination numbers including 2, 3, and 4, and valance 2016, 2017a,b, 2019b; Hazen and Ferry, 2010; McMillan et al., states of −4, +2, and +4 (Hazen et al., 2013a). Many of 2010; Golden et al., 2013; Hazen, 2013, 2018, 2019; Grew the first crystals formed in our cooling solar system were and Hazen, 2014; Zalasiewicz et al., 2014; Grew et al., 2015; refractory carbon-bearing phases, including diamond (C) (Lewis Hystad et al., 2015b,a, 2019a; Liu et al., 2017a,b, 2018b; Ma et al., 1987), graphite (C) (Amari et al., 1990), and moissanite et al., 2017; Morrison et al., 2017b; Glikson and Pirajno, (SiC)(Zinner et al., 1987). Carbon and its mineral phases 2018). The MED contains mineral locality and age information are intrinsically linked to organic and biological processes – extracted from primary literature and the mineral-locality biomineralization is responsible for a significant portion of database, Mindat.org. As of 14 June 2019, 15,906 unique rhombohedral carbonates on Earth’s surface and organic minerals ages for 6,253 directly dated mineral localities, documenting make up nearly 15% of the 411 known carbon mineral species 810,907 mineral-locality pairs and 194,090 mineral-locality- (as of June 2019; rruff.info/ima). Carbon’s widely varying age triples are available in the MED. Specific to the known character offers a fascinating opportunity to employ rapidly 411 carbon-bearing phases, there are 8,635 dated carbon developing advanced analytics and visualization