Mercury mineral evolution tied to Supercontinent assembly over last 3 billion years
Monday, June 25, 2012 - 17:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Mineral evolution posits that Earth's near-surface mineral diversity gradually increased through an array of chemical and biological processes. A dozen different species in interstellar dust particles that formed the solar system have evolved to more than 4500 species today. New work demonstrates that the creation of most minerals containing mercury is fundamentally linked to several episodes of supercontinent assembly over the last 3 billion years.