Startseite Time’s arrow in the trees of life and minerals
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Time’s arrow in the trees of life and minerals

  • Peter J. Heaney EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 30. April 2016
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill
Informationen für Autor*innen
American Mineralogist
Aus der Zeitschrift American Mineralogist Band 101 Heft 5

Abstract

Charles Darwin analogized the diversification of species to a Tree of Life. This metaphor aligns precisely with the taxonomic system that Linnaeus developed a century earlier to classify living species, because an underlying mechanism—natural selection—has driven the evolution of new organisms over vast timescales. On the other hand, the efforts of Linnaeus to extend his “universal” organizing system to minerals has been regarded as an epistemological misfire that was properly abandoned by the late nineteenth century. The mineral taxonomies proposed in the wake of Linnaeus can be distinguished by their focus on external character (Werner), crystallography (Haüy), or chemistry (Berzelius). This article appraises the competition among these systems and posits that the chemistry-based Berzelian taxonomy, as embedded within the widely adopted system of James Dwight Dana, ultimately triumphed because it reflects Earth’s episodic but persistent progression with respect to chemical differentiation. In this context, the pioneering work of Hazen et al. (2008) in mineral evolution reveals that even the temporal character of the phylogenetic Tree of Life is rooted within a Danan framework for ordering minerals.

Keywords: Mineral classification; mineral evolution; Linnaeus; Dana; Berzelius; Werner; Haüy; Invited Centennial article

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges support from NSF EAR11-47728, and he thanks Bob Hazen, Keith Putirka, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful and stimulating criticisms of the original manuscript. In addition, he acknowledges David Veblen and Jeff Post for many provocative discussions about the history of mineralogy.

References cited

Alin, M. (2013) Biomorphic patterns in Islamic art: Tracing the origin. Islamic Arts and Architecture, edited and managed by FA Bhatti, http://islamic-arts.org/2013/biomorphic-patterns-in-islamic-art-tracing-the-origin/.Suche in Google Scholar

Anderson, R.G.W. (2000) Chymie to chemistry at Edinburgh. Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group Occasional Papers, 2, 1–28.Suche in Google Scholar

André, A. (2013) Early Days of X-ray Crystallography. Oxford University Press, U.K.Suche in Google Scholar

Asfaw, B., Gilbert, W.H., Beyene, Y., Hart, W.K., Renne, P.R., WoldeGabriel, G., Vrba, E.S., and White, T.D. (2002) Remains of Homo erectus from Bouri, Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature, 416, 317–320.10.1038/416317aSuche in Google Scholar PubMed

Berzelius, J.J. (1814) Attempt to Establish a Pure Scientific System of Mineralogy by the Application of the Electro-chemical Theory and the Chemical Proportions. Translated by John Black. C. Baldwin, London.Suche in Google Scholar

Berzelius, J.J. (1824) Om de förändringar i det chemiska Mineralsystemet, som blifva en nödvändig följd af isomorpha kroppars egenskap att ersätta hvarandra i obestämda förhållanden. Konglig Vetenskaps-Academiens Handlingar, 112–142.Suche in Google Scholar

Berzelius, J.J. (1826) Des changemens dans le système de Minéralogie chimique. Annales de chimie et de physique, 31, 5–36.Suche in Google Scholar

Blunt, W. (2001) Linnaeus: The compleat naturalist. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.Suche in Google Scholar

Brown, C.M. (1989) Benjamin Silliman: A life in the young republic. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.10.1515/9781400860227Suche in Google Scholar

Burke, J.G. (1969) Mineral classification in the early nineteenth century. In C.J. Scheer, Ed., Toward a History of Geology, pp. 62–77. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Suche in Google Scholar

Critical Review (1802) Treatise on mineralogy by M. Haüy. Critical Review, 34, 481–489.Suche in Google Scholar

Cronstedt, A.F. (1788) An Essay Towards a System of Mineralogy, 2nd ed. Trans. G. von Engestrom and J.H. de Magellan. Charles Dilly, London.Suche in Google Scholar

Dana, J.D. (1837) A System of Mineralogy. Durrie and Peck and Herrick and Noyes, New Haven.Suche in Google Scholar

Dana, J.D. (1850) A System of Mineralogy, 3rd ed. George P. Putnam, New York.Suche in Google Scholar

Dana, J.D. (1854) A System of Mineralogy, 4th ed. George P. Putnman, New York.Suche in Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1845) Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N (2nd. ed.). John Murray, London.10.5962/t.175052Suche in Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1859) On the origin of species by means of natural selection. J. Murray, London.Suche in Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1872) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 6th ed. J. Murray, London.Suche in Google Scholar

De Castro, J.B., Arsuaga, J.L., Carbonell, E., Rosas, A., Martınez, I., and Mosquera, M. (1997) A hominid from the Lower Pleistocene of Atapuerca, Spain: Possible ancestor to Neandertals and modern humans. Science, 276, 1392–1395.10.1126/science.276.5317.1392Suche in Google Scholar PubMed

Donovan, A.L. (1996) Antoine Lavoisier: Science, administration and revolution. Cambridge University Press, U.K.Suche in Google Scholar

Eddy, M.D. (2005) Set in stone: Medicine and the vocabulary of mineralogy in eighteenth-century Scotland. In D.M. Knight and M.D. Eddy, Eds., Science and Beliefs: From natural philosophy to natural science, 1700–1900, pp. 77–94. Ashgate, Surrey, England.Suche in Google Scholar

Eddy, M.D. (2008) The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, chemistry, and the Edinburgh Medical School, 1750–1800. Ashgate, Surrey, England.Suche in Google Scholar

Gaines, R.V., Skinner, H.C.W., Foord, E.E., Mason, B., and Rosenzweig, A. (1997) Dana’s New Mineralogy: The system of mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, 8th ed. Wiley, New York.Suche in Google Scholar

Gilman, D.C. (1899) The Life of James Dwight Dana. Harper and Brothers, New York.Suche in Google Scholar

Gould, S.J. (2000) Linnaeus’s luck? Natural History, 109, 18–76.Suche in Google Scholar

Greene, J.C., and Burke, J.G. (1978) The science of minerals in the Age of Jefferson. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 68, 1–113.10.2307/1006294Suche in Google Scholar

Grew, E.S., and Hazen, R.M. (2014) Beryllium mineral evolution. American Mineralogist, 99, 999–1021.10.2138/am.2014.4675Suche in Google Scholar

Hann, M. (2013) Symbol, pattern, and symmetry: The cultural significance of structure. Bloomsbury, London.10.5040/9781474294119Suche in Google Scholar

Haüy, R.J. (1801) Traité de Minéralogie. Council of Mines, Paris.Suche in Google Scholar

Haüy, R.J. (1822) Traité de Minéralogie, 2nd ed. Bachelier, Paris.Suche in Google Scholar

Hazen, R.M. (2010) Evolution of minerals. Scientific American, 302, 58–65.10.1038/scientificamerican0310-58Suche in Google Scholar PubMed

Hazen, R.M., and Ferry, J.M. (2010) Mineral evolution: Mineralogy in the fourth dimension. Elements, 6, 9–12.10.2113/gselements.6.1.9Suche in Google Scholar

Hazen, R.M., Papineau, D., Bleeker, W., Downs, R.T., Ferry, J.M., McCoy, T.J., Downs, R.T., Ferry, J.M., McCoy, T.J., Sverjensky, D.A., and Yang, H. (2008) Mineral evolution. American Mineralogist, 93, 1693–1720.10.2138/am.2008.2955Suche in Google Scholar

Hazen, R.M., Golden, J., Downs, R.T., Hystad, G., Grew, E.S., Azzolini, D., and Sverjensky, D.A. (2012) Mercury (Hg) mineral evolution: A mineralogical record of supercontinent assembly, changing ocean geochemistry, and the emerging terrestrial biosphere. American Mineralogist, 97, 1013–1042.10.2138/am.2012.3922Suche in Google Scholar

James, E.O. (1966) The Tree of Life: An archaeological study (Vol. 11). Brill, Leiden.10.1163/9789004378025Suche in Google Scholar

Johnson, S. (2008) The Invention of Air. Riverhead, New York.Suche in Google Scholar

Kuhn, T. (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, Illinois.10.7208/chicago/9780226458106.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar

Laudan, R. (1987) From mineralogy to geology. University of Chicago Press, Illinois.10.7208/chicago/9780226924755.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar

Levere, T.H. (2001) Transforming matter: A history of chemistry from alchemy to the buckyball. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Suche in Google Scholar

Linnaeus, C. (1735) Systema Naturae. John William de Groot, Leiden.Suche in Google Scholar

Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae, 10th ed. L. Salvius, Stockholm.Suche in Google Scholar

Melhado, E.M. (1981) Jacob Berzelius: The emergence of his chemical system. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison/Cambridge University Press, U.K.Suche in Google Scholar

Melhado, E.M., and Frängsmyr, T. (Eds.) (1992) Enlightenment Science in the Romantic Era: The Chemistry of Berzelius and its Cultural Setting. Cambridge University Press, U.K.Suche in Google Scholar

Mora, C., Tittensor, D.P., Adl, S., Simpson, A.G.B., and Worm B. (2011) How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean? PLOS Biology, 9, e1001127, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127.10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

Nicol, J. (1849) Manual of Mineralogy. Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh.Suche in Google Scholar

Schuh, C.P. (2007) Mineralogy and crystallography: On the history of these sciences from the beginnings through 1919. Unpublished monograph.Suche in Google Scholar

Stearns, B.P., and Stearns, S.C. (2000) Watching, from the edge of extinction. Yale University Press, New Haven.Suche in Google Scholar

Stringer, C. (2012) The status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908). Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 21 101–107.10.1002/evan.21311Suche in Google Scholar PubMed

Thomson, T. (1815) Analyses of books: An attempt to establish a pure scientific system of mineralogy by the application of the electro-chemical theory, and the chemical proportions. By J.J. Berzelius, Translated from the Swedish Original by John Black. 1814. Annals of Philosophy, 5.Suche in Google Scholar

Werner, A.G. (1774) A treatise on the external characters of fossils. Translation (1805) by Thomas Weaver. M.N. Mahon, Dublin.Suche in Google Scholar

Wherry, E.T. (1918) Modern extensions of Haüy’s laws of crystallography. American Mineralogist, 3, 134–136.Suche in Google Scholar

Whitlock, H.P. (1918) René-Just Haüy and his influence. American Mineralogist, 3, 92–98.Suche in Google Scholar

Received: 2015-5-14
Accepted: 2015-9-23
Published Online: 2016-4-30
Published in Print: 2016-5-1

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. (FeH)1–xTixO2: A new water carrier to the mantle transition zone
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  4. Dissecting a volcano
  5. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  6. W-WO joins the deep Earth electrochemical series
  7. Presidential Address
  8. Time’s arrow in the trees of life and minerals
  9. Research Article
  10. A century of mineral structures: How well do we know them?
  11. Special collection: Building planets: The dynamics and Geochemistry of core formation
  12. Equation of state of pyrite to 80 GPa and 2400 K
  13. Special collection: Perspectives on origins and evolution of crustal magmas
  14. Understanding magmatic processes at Telica volcano, Nicaragua: Crystal size distribution and textural analysis
  15. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  16. Non-hydrothermal origin of apatite in SEDEX mineralization and host rocks of the Howard’s Pass district, Yukon, Canada
  17. Research Article
  18. Petrographic investigation of smithing slag of the Hellenistic to Byzantine city of Sagalassos (SW-Turkey)
  19. Research Article
  20. Equation of state and spin crossover of (Mg,Fe)O at high pressure, with implications for explaining topographic relief at the core-mantle boundary
  21. Research Article
  22. “Satellite monazites” in polymetamorphic basement rocks of the Alps: Their origin and petrological significance
  23. Research Article
  24. Solution-chemistry control of Mg2+-calcite interaction mechanisms: Implication for biomineralization
  25. Research Article
  26. Probing carbon-bearing species and CO2 inclusions in amorphous carbon-MgSiO3 enstatite reaction products at 1.5 GPa: Insights from 13C high-resolution solid-state NMR
  27. Research Article
  28. Thermochemistry of rare earth perovskites Na3xRE0.67–xTiO3 (RE = La, Ce)
  29. Research Article
  30. Thermodynamics of bastnaesite: A major rare earth ore mineral
  31. Research Article
  32. A single-crystal X-ray and Raman spectroscopic study of hydrothermally synthesized arsenates and vanadates with the descloizite and adelite structure types
  33. Research Article
  34. Compressional and shear wave velocities for polycrystalline bcc-Fe up to 6.3 GPa and 800 K
  35. Research Article
  36. Majindeite, Mg2Mo3O8, a new mineral from the Allende meteorite and a witness to post-crystallization oxidation of a Ca-Al-rich refractory inclusion
  37. Research Article
  38. Use of multivariate analysis for synchrotron micro-XANES analysis of iron valence state in amphiboles
  39. Research Article
  40. Elasticity and phase transformation at high pressure in coesite from experiments and first-principles calculations
  41. Research Article
  42. Thermodynamics of mixing in an isostructural solid solution: Simulation methodologies and application to the rutile-cassiterite system
  43. Research Article
  44. Compressibility of 2M1 muscovite-paragonite series minerals: A computational study to 6 GPa
  45. Research Article
  46. Joegoldsteinite: A new sulfide mineral (MnCr2S4) from the Social Circle IVA iron meteorite
  47. Research Article
  48. Oxygen isotope thermometry reveals high magmatic temperatures and short residence times in Yellowstone and other hot-dry rhyolites compared to cold-wet systems
  49. Letter
  50. The elastic tensor of monoclinic alkali feldspars
  51. Letter
  52. Ca neighbors from XANES spectroscopy: A tool to investigate structure, redox, and nucleation processes in silicate glasses, melts, and crystals
  53. Letter
  54. Coupled substitution of Fe3+ and H+ for Si in wadsleyite: A study by polarized infrared and Mössbauer spectroscopies and single-crystal X-ray diffraction
  55. Research Article
  56. New Mineral Names
https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2016-5419
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
Mineral classification; mineral evolution; Linnaeus; Dana; Berzelius; Werner; Haüy; Invited Centennial article

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. (FeH)1–xTixO2: A new water carrier to the mantle transition zone
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  4. Dissecting a volcano
  5. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  6. W-WO joins the deep Earth electrochemical series
  7. Presidential Address
  8. Time’s arrow in the trees of life and minerals
  9. Research Article
  10. A century of mineral structures: How well do we know them?
  11. Special collection: Building planets: The dynamics and Geochemistry of core formation
  12. Equation of state of pyrite to 80 GPa and 2400 K
  13. Special collection: Perspectives on origins and evolution of crustal magmas
  14. Understanding magmatic processes at Telica volcano, Nicaragua: Crystal size distribution and textural analysis
  15. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  16. Non-hydrothermal origin of apatite in SEDEX mineralization and host rocks of the Howard’s Pass district, Yukon, Canada
  17. Research Article
  18. Petrographic investigation of smithing slag of the Hellenistic to Byzantine city of Sagalassos (SW-Turkey)
  19. Research Article
  20. Equation of state and spin crossover of (Mg,Fe)O at high pressure, with implications for explaining topographic relief at the core-mantle boundary
  21. Research Article
  22. “Satellite monazites” in polymetamorphic basement rocks of the Alps: Their origin and petrological significance
  23. Research Article
  24. Solution-chemistry control of Mg2+-calcite interaction mechanisms: Implication for biomineralization
  25. Research Article
  26. Probing carbon-bearing species and CO2 inclusions in amorphous carbon-MgSiO3 enstatite reaction products at 1.5 GPa: Insights from 13C high-resolution solid-state NMR
  27. Research Article
  28. Thermochemistry of rare earth perovskites Na3xRE0.67–xTiO3 (RE = La, Ce)
  29. Research Article
  30. Thermodynamics of bastnaesite: A major rare earth ore mineral
  31. Research Article
  32. A single-crystal X-ray and Raman spectroscopic study of hydrothermally synthesized arsenates and vanadates with the descloizite and adelite structure types
  33. Research Article
  34. Compressional and shear wave velocities for polycrystalline bcc-Fe up to 6.3 GPa and 800 K
  35. Research Article
  36. Majindeite, Mg2Mo3O8, a new mineral from the Allende meteorite and a witness to post-crystallization oxidation of a Ca-Al-rich refractory inclusion
  37. Research Article
  38. Use of multivariate analysis for synchrotron micro-XANES analysis of iron valence state in amphiboles
  39. Research Article
  40. Elasticity and phase transformation at high pressure in coesite from experiments and first-principles calculations
  41. Research Article
  42. Thermodynamics of mixing in an isostructural solid solution: Simulation methodologies and application to the rutile-cassiterite system
  43. Research Article
  44. Compressibility of 2M1 muscovite-paragonite series minerals: A computational study to 6 GPa
  45. Research Article
  46. Joegoldsteinite: A new sulfide mineral (MnCr2S4) from the Social Circle IVA iron meteorite
  47. Research Article
  48. Oxygen isotope thermometry reveals high magmatic temperatures and short residence times in Yellowstone and other hot-dry rhyolites compared to cold-wet systems
  49. Letter
  50. The elastic tensor of monoclinic alkali feldspars
  51. Letter
  52. Ca neighbors from XANES spectroscopy: A tool to investigate structure, redox, and nucleation processes in silicate glasses, melts, and crystals
  53. Letter
  54. Coupled substitution of Fe3+ and H+ for Si in wadsleyite: A study by polarized infrared and Mössbauer spectroscopies and single-crystal X-ray diffraction
  55. Research Article
  56. New Mineral Names
Jetzt anmelden und 20% sparen
Institutioneller Zugang
Wie funktioniert Authentifizierung?
Haben Sie eine Idee, wie wir unsere Website verbessern können?
Bitte schreiben Sie uns.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Heruntergeladen am 9.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.2138/am-2016-5419/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen