[Bulk] Re: [Rockhounds] Survival of the firmest - Scientists say
rocksevolve too
Dora Smith
tiggernut24 at yahoo.com
Thu Nov 27 05:31:49 PST 2008
Haven't we known for a long time that the hardest rocks resist erosion?
Yup, they last the longest. This is why granite from the foundation of the
Earth's crust can be found in the Adirondacks (New York). I had to consider
that something less obvious could lie behind the subject heading, but thanks
someone else for saying that it isn't new.
Biologically produced rock isn't an example of survival of the firmest -
LOL, not hardly. Usually it's just newest and closest to the surface.
Is the point an ecological idea that the geological character of the planet
has evolved over time? Problem there is it isn't a geological principle.
And no new facts, just a new way of looking at what was already known.
Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX
tiggernut24 at yahoo.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <Pmodreski at aol.com>
To: <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 9:25 PM
Subject: [Bulk] Re: [Rockhounds] Survival of the firmest - Scientists say
rocksevolve too
>I got your Vancouver link to work too--I was just missing the half of the
> url that lapped on to the second line. Both of the stories were really
> pretty
> much the same, the Canadian one adapted from the other.
>
> I don't know that this is really going to change mineralogy, at least in
> regard to the definitions of minerals. For example, all the oxidized
> copper
> minerals wouldn't exist without the oxygen in our present atmosphere, and
> the
> oxygen wouldn't be there without plants; but that doesn't quite mean that
> these
> minerals are biologically produced.
>
> Altho, the whole question of "biologically produced or mediated,
> minerals",
> is a whole 'nother can of worms, as to definitions of what's a mineral. I
> know that a number of mineralogists would like to drop the whole
> "requirement"
> that minerals be strictly inorganic, because there is such a lot of gray
> area
> where life forms play some role in mineral formation. For example, most
> of
> the calcite in limestones would not be considered "a mineral" if we
> rigorously
> exclude any mineral precipitation in which biologic processes play any
> role.
>
> Pete
>
>
> In a message dated 11/26/2008 6:54:45 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
> Kreigh at tomaszewski.net writes:
>
> Pete,
>
> Odd, your direct link didn't work for me. But I was able to back up to
> http://www.ciw.edu/news/ and click on the story to read it. It had
> better science than the Canadian newspaper.
>
> My first reaction was that the mineralogical and geological textbooks
> are going to end up being rewritten.
>
> My second reaction was what is the IMA going to do? Most definitions of
> what is a mineral include something like inorganically formed - see
> http://webmineral.com/Mineral_Definition.shtml.
>
> Most great discoveries seem obvious once they are explained. I had a
> real 'Aha' moment this morning after it was pointed out to me by a
> friend. I think this is going to be a big turning point in the history
> of mineralogy.
>
> Kreigh
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008, at 19:35 America/Detroit, Pmodreski at aol.com
> wrote:
>
>> Yes, this is a very interesting concept and way of looking at things,
>> thanks
>> for posting this, Kreigh.
>>
>> This has appeared in several online science news sources lately; the
>> full
>> article is in the latest (Nov-Dec) issue of the American Mineralogist,
>> and it
>> includes an unique version of a geologic time chart of earth history,
>> emphasizing the various major events in the evolution of the planet
>> and of both
>> inorganic and life-related processes. Not everything it deals with is
>> connected
>> with life; the article begins with the various stages of mineral
>> formation in
>> the solar and pre-solar nebula.
>>
>> A bit amusing that this story link you gave here is from a Canadian
>> news
>> source and emphasizes the Canadian contribution to this paper; the
>> first two
>> authors are from the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie
>> Institution (Wash.
>> D.C) and the others are from the U. of AZ, Johns Hopkins, the
>> Smithsonian, and
>> yes, one from the Canada Geological Survey.
>>
>> Actually, I'm not getting the link you posted to work (seems to get
>> that
>> Vancouver newspaper website but not the specific story), but here is
>> another
>> that works for me, from the C.I.W. (I got this via _www.geology.com_
>> (http://www.geology.com) ):
>>
>> _http://www.ciw.edu/news/mineral_kingdom_has_co_evolved_life_
>> (http://www.ciw.edu/news/mineral_kingdom_has_co_evolved_life)
>>
>> Pete
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 11/26/2008 5:17:33 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
>> Kreigh at tomaszewski.net writes:
>>
>> A landmark scientific study co-authored by a Canadian geologist has
>> identified a sudden explosion of mineral diversity after the emergence
>> of life on Earth, and advanced a "revolutionary" theory that rocks
>> have
>> been evolving - much like plants and animals - throughout the planet's
>> history.
>>
>> Wouter Bleeker, an Ottawa-based researcher with the Geological Survey
>> of Canada, is one of eight members of an international team whose
>> theory of "mineral evolution" - the idea that many of the Earth's
>> rocks
>> are dynamic "species" which emerged and transformed over time, largely
>> in concert with living things - is generating a major buzz in the
>> global scientific community since its publication last week in a U.S.
>> journal.
>>
>> http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=839b3ae1-264a-4e61-
>> a6f5-d464d5f0f923
>>
>>
>> --
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