|
Activity Number:
|
205
|
|
Type:
|
Contributed
|
|
Date/Time:
|
Monday, August 1, 2016 : 11:35 AM to 12:20 PM
|
|
Sponsor:
|
Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences
|
|
Abstract #321666
|
|
|
Title:
|
Mineral Species Frequency Distribution and the Prediction of Earth's Missing Minerals
|
|
Author(s):
|
Grethe Hystad* and Robert T. Downs and Robert M. Hazen
|
|
Companies:
|
Purdue University and University of Arizona and Carnegie Institution
|
|
Keywords:
|
Frequency distribution ;
LNRE models ;
Mineral ecology ;
Relative abundances
|
|
Abstract:
|
Humans have long asked questions about their place in the cosmos. How did Earth form? How did life emerge? A population model for the mineral species frequency distribution is introduced. The mineral species coupled with their localities is a Large Number of Rare Events (LNRE) distribution since most of Earth's mineral species are rare, known from only a few localities. LNRE models formulated in terms of a structural type distribution allow the estimation of Earth's undiscovered, mineralogical diversity and the prediction of the percentage of observed mineral species that would differ if Earth's history were replayed. The characteristic of an Earth-like planet is a pervasive theme in planetary sciences. The mineral frequency distribution of Earth's crust can provide a mineralogy-based statistical measure for characterizing an Earth-like planet. The relative abundances are calculated numerically for all the mineral species in Earth's crust. These population probabilities provide an estimate of the occurrence probabilities of species and can be used to characterize Earth in terms of mineralogy and uniqueness in the cosmos.
|
Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.
