From: Robert Hazen Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 14:07 To: Jihua Hao Cc: Sergey V. Krivovichev; Jesse H. Ausubel; Downs, Robert T - (rdowns); Daniel Hummer; Edward Grew; Chao Liu; Morrison, Shaunna - (shaunnamm); Grethe Hystad; Xiaogang Ma; Michael Meyer; Paul Falkowski; Dimitri Sverjensky; Elisha K. Moore; Peter Fox; Golden, Joshua J - (jgolden) Subject: Re: Paper idea--mineral rarity biosognatures Dear Jihua et al., I think we can imagine numerous parameters related to each mineral species to test for correlations: Age Many different compositional parameters (specific elements; combinations of elements) Crustal abundance of incorporated elements Oxidation states Chemical complexity (number of essential elements) Rarity Paragenetic mode Tectonic setting primary vs. secondary abiotic vs. biogenic And are there thermochemical or geochemical parameters we should be considering as well? What's missing? The key is to bring a fully populated mineral data resource to RPI in June and then brainstorm while learning how to interrogate data in creative ways and visualize the results. Should be a very dynamic workshop! Bob On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 1:41 PM, Jihua Hao wrote: Dear all, After looking through the emails, I agree that it is a great idea to search biosignature from distributions of rare minerals. One thing came to my mind was that, we talked biological activities prefer to use some trace elements, like Mo, Re, Co etc, in biological activities, but dislike some too, like Hg, As etc. I’m wondering if these biological preferences will affect the distribution of those rare minerals. Or, can we tell this preferences from the distribution of rare minerals? Thanks, Jihua On Mar 15, 2016, at 4:43 PM, Robert Hazen wrote: FYI, 6 hours on trains to/from NYC tomorrow. Will start on volume IV of the Handbook of Mineralogy (arsenates, phosphates, vanadates), as that's in some ways easiest. Numerous oxidized ore minerals (category 82). Best, Bob -- Robert M. Hazen Senior Staff Scientist, Geophysical Laboratory Executive Director, Deep Carbon Observatory 5251 Broad Branch Road NW Washington, DC 20015 phone: 202-478-8962 e-mail: rhazen@ciw.edu Personal web site: http://hazen.gl.ciw.edu DCO website: deepcarbon.net Keck Deep-Time Project website: http://dtdi.carnegiescience.edu