Editing Mineral (section)

===Biogenic minerals===
{{further|Biomineralization}}

A topic of contention among geologists and mineralogists has been the IMA's decision to exclude biogenic crystalline substances. For example, Lowenstam (1981) stated that "organisms are capable of forming a diverse array of minerals, some of which cannot be formed inorganically in the biosphere."<ref name="Lowenstam81">{{cite journal | first1=Lowenstam | last1=H.A. | title=Minerals formed by organisms | journal=Science | date=1981 | volume=211 | issue=4487 | pages=1126–31 | doi=10.1126/science.7008198 | jstor=1685216 | pmid=7008198|bibcode = 1981Sci...211.1126L }}</ref>

Skinner (2005) views all solids as potential minerals and includes [[biomineralization|biominerals]] in the mineral kingdom, which are those that are created by the metabolic activities of organisms. Skinner expanded the previous definition of a mineral to classify "element or compound, amorphous or crystalline, formed through ''[[Biogeochemistry|biogeochemical]] '' processes," as a mineral.<ref name="Skinner05" />

Recent advances in high-resolution [[genetics]] and [[X-ray absorption spectroscopy]] are providing revelations on the biogeochemical relations between [[microorganism]]s and minerals that may shed new light on this question.<ref name=Nickel /><ref name="Skinner05">{{cite journal | last1=Skinner | first1=H.C.W. | title=Biominerals | journal=Mineralogical Magazine | volume=69 | issue=5 | pages=621–41| doi=10.1180/0026461056950275 | date=2005 | bibcode=2005MinM...69..621S | s2cid=232388764 }}</ref> For example, the IMA-commissioned "Working Group on Environmental Mineralogy and Geochemistry " deals with minerals in the [[hydrosphere]], [[atmosphere]], and [[biosphere]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Working Group on Environmental Mineralogy and Geochemistry|url=https://www.ima-mineralogy.org/WGEMG_objectives.htm|website=Commissions, working groups and committees|publisher=International Mineralogical Association|access-date=4 April 2018|language=en|date=3 August 2011|archive-date=8 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308103719/https://www.ima-mineralogy.org/WGEMG_objectives.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The group's scope includes mineral-forming microorganisms, which exist on nearly every rock, soil, and particle surface spanning the globe to depths of at least 1600 metres below the [[Seabed|sea floor]] and 70 kilometres into the [[stratosphere]] (possibly entering the [[mesosphere]]).<ref name="Takai10">{{cite book | last=Takai | first=K. | chapter=Limits of life and the biosphere: Lessons from the detection of microorganisms in the deep sea and deep subsurface of the Earth. | title=Origins and Evolution of Life: An Astrobiological Perspective | editor1-last=Gargaud | editor1-first=M. | editor2-last=Lopez-Garcia | editor2-first=P. | editor3-last=Martin | editor3-first=H. | pages=469–86 | date=2010 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge |isbn= 978-1-139-49459-5}}</ref><ref name="Roussel08">{{cite journal | last1=Roussel | first1=E.G. | last2=Cambon Bonavita | first2=M. | last3=Querellou | first3=J. | last4=Cragg | first4=B.A. | last5=Prieur | first5=D. | last6=Parkes | first6=R.J. | title=Extending the Sub-Sea-Floor Biosphere | journal=Science | date=2008 | volume=320 | issue=5879 | page=1046 | doi=10.1126/science.1154545 | last7=Parkes | first7=R.J. | bibcode=2008Sci...320.1046R | pmid=18497290 | s2cid=23374807 | url=https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4209/ | access-date=2019-02-01 | archive-date=2020-05-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510114404/https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4209/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Pearce09">{{cite journal | last1=Pearce | first1=D.A. | last2=Bridge | first2=P.D. | last3=Hughes | first3=K.A. | last4=Sattler | first4=B. | last5=Psenner | first5=R. | last6=Russel | first6=N.J. | title= Microorganisms in the atmosphere over Antarctica | volume=69 | issue=2 | pages=143–57 | journal=FEMS Microbiology Ecology | doi=10.1111/j.1574-6941.2009.00706.x| date=2009 | pmid=19527292| doi-access=free | bibcode=2009FEMME..69..143P }}</ref>

[[Biogeochemical cycle]]s have contributed to the formation of minerals for billions of years. Microorganisms can [[Precipitation (chemistry)|precipitate]] metals from [[Solution (chemistry)|solution]], contributing to the formation of [[ore]] deposits. They can also [[Catalysis|catalyze]] the [[Dissolution (chemistry)|dissolution]] of minerals.<ref name="Newman02">{{cite journal | last1=Newman | first1=D.K. | last2=Banfield | first2=J.F. | title=Geomicrobiology: How Molecular-Scale Interactions Underpin Biogeochemical Systems | journal=Science | volume=296 | issue=5570 | pages=1071–77 | doi=10.1126/science.1010716 | date=2002 | pmid=12004119| bibcode=2002Sci...296.1071N | s2cid=1235688 }}</ref><ref name="Warren03">{{cite journal | last1=Warren | first1=L.A. | last2=Kauffman | first2=M.E. | title=Microbial geoengineers | journal=Science | date=2003 | volume=299 | issue=5609 | pages=1027–29 | doi=10.1126/science.1072076 | jstor=3833546 | pmid=12586932| s2cid=19993145 }}</ref><ref name="González-Muñoz10">{{cite journal | last1=González-Muñoz | first1=M.T. | last2=Rodriguez-Navarro | first2=C. | last3=Martínez-Ruiz | first3=F. | last4=Arias | first4=J.M. | last5=Merroun | first5=M.L. | last6=Rodriguez-Gallego | first6=M. | title=Bacterial biomineralization: new insights from Myxococcus-induced mineral precipitation | journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications | volume=336 | issue=1 | pages=31–50 | doi=10.1144/SP336.3 | bibcode=2010GSLSP.336...31G| year=2010 | s2cid=130343033 }}</ref>

Prior to the International Mineralogical Association's listing, over 60 biominerals had been discovered, named, and published.<ref name="Veis90">{{cite journal | last1=Veis | first1=A. | title=Biomineralization. Cell Biology and Mineral Deposition. by Kenneth Simkiss; Karl M. Wilbur On Biomineralization. by Heinz A. Lowenstam; Stephen Weiner | journal=Science | volume=247 | issue=4946 | pages=1129–30 | jstor=2874281 | date=1990 | pmid=17800080 | doi=10.1126/science.247.4946.1129|bibcode = 1990Sci...247.1129S }}</ref> These minerals (a sub-set tabulated in Lowenstam (1981)<ref name="Lowenstam81" />) are considered minerals proper according to Skinner's (2005) definition.<ref name="Skinner05" /> These biominerals are not listed in the International Mineral Association official list of mineral names;<ref>[http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/IMA%20mineral%20list%20update%20BB%20Upload%208%20April%202011.pdf Official IMA list of mineral names (updated from March 2009 list)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706121228/http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/IMA%20mineral%20list%20update%20BB%20Upload%208%20April%202011.pdf |date=2011-07-06 }}. uws.edu.au</ref>  however, many of these biomineral representatives are distributed amongst the 78 mineral classes listed in the Dana classification scheme.<ref name="Skinner05" />

Skinner's (2005) definition of a mineral takes this matter into account by stating that a mineral can be crystalline or amorphous.<ref name="Skinner05" /> Although biominerals are not the most common form of minerals,<ref name=Hefferan10>{{cite book | first1=Hefferan | last1=K. | first2=O'Brien | last2=J. | title=Earth Materials | date=2010 | isbn=978-1-4443-3460-9 | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell}}</ref> they help to define the limits of what constitutes a mineral proper. Nickel's (1995) formal definition explicitly mentioned crystallinity as a key to defining a substance as a mineral. A 2011 article defined [[icosahedrite]], an aluminium-iron-copper alloy, as a mineral; named for its unique natural [[icosahedral symmetry]], it is a [[quasicrystal]]. Unlike a true crystal, quasicrystals are ordered but not periodic.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Bindi | first = L. | author-link = Luca Bindi | author2 = Paul J. Steinhardt | author3 = Nan Yao | author4 = Peter J. Lu | title = Icosahedrite, Al<sub>63</sub>Cu<sub>24</sub>Fe<sub>13</sub>, the first natural quasicrystal | journal = American Mineralogist | volume = 96 | issue = 5–6 | pages = 928–31 | date = 2011| doi = 10.2138/am.2011.3758 | bibcode = 2011AmMin..96..928B | s2cid = 101152220 }}</ref><ref>Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names, [http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/newminerals2010.pdf Approved as new mineral] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320182918/http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/newminerals2010.pdf |date=2012-03-20 }}</ref>