skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • The secret life of garnets: A comprehensive, standardized dataset of garnet geochemical analyses integrating localities and petrogenesis.
Title: The secret life of garnets: A comprehensive, standardized dataset of garnet geochemical analyses integrating localities and petrogenesis.
Integrating mineralogy with data science is critical to modernizing Earth materials research and its applications to geosciences. Data were compiled on 95 650 garnet sample analyses from a variety of sources, ranging from large repositories (EarthChem, RRUFF, MetPetDB) to individual peer-reviewed literature. An important feature is the inclusion of mineralogical “dark data” from papers published prior to 1990. Garnets are commonly used as indicators of formation environments, which directly correlate with their geochemical properties; thus, they are an ideal subject for the creation of an extensive data resource that incorporates composition, locality information, paragenetic mode, age, temperature, pressure, and geochemistry. For the data extracted from existing databases and literature, we increased the resolution of several key aspects, including petrogenetic and paragenetic attributes, which we extended from generic material type (e.g., igneous, metamorphic) to more specific rock-type names (e.g., diorite, eclogite, skarn) and locality information, increasing specificity by examining the continent, country, area, geological context, longitude, and latitude. Likewise, we utilized end-member and quality index calculations to help assess the garnet sample analysis quality. This comprehensive dataset of garnet information is an open-access resource available in the Evolutionary System of Mineralogy Database (ESMD) for future mineralogical studies, paving the way for characterizing correlations between chemical composition and paragenesis through natural kind clustering (Chiama et al., 2022; https://doi.org/10.48484/camh-xy98). We encourage scientists to contribute their own unpublished and unarchived analyses to the growing data repositories of mineralogical information that are increasingly valuable for advancing scientific discovery.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2148939
PAR ID:
10504198
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Copernicus
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Earth system science data discussions
ISSN:
1866-3508
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
mineralogy garnet data informatics
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, American Geophysical Union)
    Advancements in automated mineralogy offer an opportunity to develop new approaches to the study of fine-grained sedimentary lithologies including paleosols and pedogenic minerals that hold valuable paleoclimate information. Automated mineralogy is a non-destructive analytical technique that relies on BSE imaging with spectral data to output multimodal hypermaps. Spatial domains are delineated and assigned mineral phases using whole spectrum best matching to reference spectra, providing quantitative sample composition estimates with high throughput data collection. We targeted a Spodosol in the lower part of the Upper Pennsylvanian Casselman Fm. of the Appalachian basin to evaluate the utility of automated mineralogy in determining paleosol composition. During deposition of the lower Casselman Fm., tropical climate during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age began a return to a more humid regime following the Kasimovian–Gzhelian boundary (~304 Ma) warming event. The Spodosol is a composite paleosol approximately 1.4 m thick that displays redoximorphic mottling, small scale (≤ 3 cm) slickensides and weak angular platy ped development. We performed automated mineralogy analysis on 9 paleosol samples, which were formed into 25 mm polished epoxy mounts of disaggregated peds, and generated complete mineralogical maps of the samples. These results indicate that phyllosilicate clays, mainly illite, formed the dominant mineralogic group (50-85%) with lesser amounts of quartz (~5-23%), feldspar (12-30%), carbonate (0-12%) and Fe-oxides (0-9%). Estimates of Al, Ca, Na and K from were used to determine Chemical Index of Alteration, with values ranging from 59-67. These CIA estimates tend to be quite low compared to CIA estimates determined from previous work using bulk elemental abundances by WDS-XRF (CIA >67). Further interrogation of these preliminary results revealed that interphase quartz-illite analyses were assigned a potassium feldspar interpretation. Ultimately we will combine image analysis (e.g., particle shape/habit) with new reference spectra for paleosol interphase matrix material, which together with WDS-XRF and XRD mineralogy calibration can be used to develop a robust methodology for automated mineralogy analysis of paleosols. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; (, Transportation Reseach Board Annual Meeting)
    Coarse aggregate sources must possess sufficient level of quality to meet both initial design as well as long-term and life-cycle performance requirements for pavement construction. Morphological shape properties, mineralogy, and chemical properties of the aggregate particles can significantly influence their quality and performance in terms of both durability and mechanical properties. As part of this study, a survey was sent out to different highway agencies to collect representative coarse aggregate samples as well as information regarding different practices used by them for morphological, petrographic, and chemical characterizations of aggregate sources. Morphology analysis using machine vision technology was incorporated to identify shape properties of the collected aggregate samples. Additionally, thin section optical petrographic analysis using an Axioscan 7 full slide scanner was utilized to identify mineral composition of the aggregates. Finally, chemical testing and analysis was conducted using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to detect major element compositions in epoxy impregnated sample of aggregate particles. Statistical analysis including Pearson correlation and multiple regression were deployed to investigate the relationship between the parameters representing mineralogy, chemical, and morphological shape properties. The findings of this study indicated 12 minerals and seven chemical elements with statistical significance to impact the imaging-based shape indices of aggregates. Subsequently, regression-based prediction models were developed to estimate the aggregate shape indices using mineralogy and chemical properties with a relatively satisfactory performance. The improvements in objectively characterizing aggregate chemical, mineralogical, and shape properties can be used to develop improved and sustainable aggregate production methods and specifications. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences)
    Aperiodic discharge of brine at Blood Falls forms a red-tinged fan at the terminus of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. Samples from this discharge provide an opportunity for mineralogical study at a Martian analogue study site. Environmental samples were collected in the field and analyzed in the laboratory using Fourier transform infrared, Raman, visible to near-infrared, and Mössbauer spectroscopies. Samples were further characterized using microprobe and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy for chemistry, and x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy for mineralogy, crystallography, and chemistry. The mineralogy of these samples is dominated by the carbonate minerals calcite and aragonite, accompanied by quartz, feldspar, halide, and clay minerals. There is no strong evidence for crystalline iron oxide/hydroxide phases, but compositionally and morphologically diverse iron- and chlorine-rich amorphous nanospheres are found in many of the samples. These results showcase the strengths and weaknesses of different analytical methods and underscore the need for multiple complementary techniques to inform the complicated mineralogy at this locale. These analyses suggest that the red color at Blood Falls arises from oxidation of dissolved Fe 2+ in the subglacial fluid that transforms upon exposure to air to form nanospheres of amorphous hydroxylated mixed-valent iron-containing material, with color also influenced by other ions in those structures. Finally, the results provide a comprehensive mineralogical analysis previously missing from the literature for an analogue site with a well-studied sub-ice microbial community. Thus, this mineral assemblage could indicate a habitable environment if found elsewhere in the Solar System. 
    more » « less
  4. (, EarthCube Annual Meeting 2022)
    An implementation of the Sparrow data system (https://sparrow-data.org) is currently being developed to support laboratory workflows for sample preparation, geochemical analysis, and SEM imaging in support of tephra research. Tephra, consisting of fragmental material ejected from volcanoes, has a multidisciplinary array of applications from volcanology to geochronology, archaeology, environmental change, and more. The international tephra research community has developed a comprehensive set of recommendations for data and metadata collection and reporting (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3866266) as part of a broader effort to adopt FAIR practices. Implementations of these recommendations now exist for field data via StraboSpot (https://strabospot.org/files/StraboSpotTephraHelp.pdf) and for samples, analytical methods, and geochemistry via SESAR and EarthChem (https://earthchem.org/communities/tephra/). Implementing these recommended practices in Sparrow helps to (1) cover laboratory workflows between field sample collection and project data archiving and (2) address a key researcher pain point. As re-emphasized by participants in the Tephra Fusion 2022 workshop earlier this year (Wallace et al., this meeting), the huge workload currently needed to capture and organize data and metadata in preparation for archiving in community data repositories is a major obstacle to achieving FAIR practices. By capturing this information on the fly during laboratory workflows and integrating it together in a single data system, this challenge may be overcome. We are implementing the tephra community recommendations as extensions to Sparrow’s core database schema. Data import pipelines and user interfaces to streamline metadata capture are also being developed. In the longer term, we aim to achieve interoperability with an ecosystem of tools and repositories like StraboSpot, SESAR, EarthChem, and Throughput. The results of these developments will be applicable not just to tephra but also to other research areas which utilize similar laboratory and analytical methods - e.g. sedimentology, mineralogy, and petrology. 
    more » « less
  5. ; (, Minerals)
    Climate change induced changes in river flow dynamics have the potential to change the composition of suspended sediments in crucial tropical river ecosystems, possibly affecting their resiliency. This study investigates how changes in river discharge and bedrock lithology affected the physiochemical nature of river suspended sediments over a typical year in three Puerto-Rican rivers. Suspended sediment samples were collected on filter membranes in 2006 from three watersheds of differing lithology (quartz-diorite, volcaniclastic, and mixed lithology) in the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto-Rico. By monitoring changes in suspended sediment mineralogical composition (determined by XRD and SEM) as a function of discharge, we determined how sediment loads responded to changes in hydrological input in a typical year. Results showed that bedrock lithology influenced river suspended sediment mineralogy, with the fraction of crystalline versus amorphous material strongly influenced by the dominant lithology of the watershed. Crystalline phases were associated with granodiorite bedrock compared to amorphous material dominating the volcaniclastic watersheds. Thus, the mineralogy of suspended sediments in the river systems was controlled by secondary minerals. Mineralogical results showed that, bearing quantitative changes upon hydrological events, suspended sediments in all three watersheds returned to baseline composition post storm events, suggesting that the three watersheds are resilient to the events recorded that year. While the long-term mineralogical analysis of the evolution of suspended material in the studied rivers provided insights into river response to hydrologic events, it also proved technically challenging as materials in suspension in such pristine rivers are sparse and poorly crystalline. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email