SYMMETRY STATISTICS OF MINERAL SPECIES AND THE EVOLUTIONARY DISSYMMETRIZATION OF MINERAL MATTER

Abstract

A comprehensive statistical analysis of the symmetry of mineral species leads to a definite conclusion that rare minerals possess lower symmetry than abundant ones, so that the most stable minerals are characterized by higher symmetry. Since all recently discovered new minerals belong to rare and very rare species, their percentage is increasing and the mean symmetry index is decreasing with time. In other words, the average symmetry is gradually decreasing with the growing diversity of mineral species. In general, the irreversible process of rare mineral formation obeys the principle of minimum dissymmetrization. At the same time, the reduced symmetry indices strongly decrease on passing from cosmic materials (meteorites, lunar rocks) to the Earth’s solid substances and from the planetary interior (core, mantle) to the Earth’s crust. This trend of the planet’s evolution is related to the pronounced loss of entropy and increase in ordering of solid substances that compose the lithosphere. This is supplemented by the withdrawal of entropy from the solid to the upper liquid (oceans) and gaseous (atmosphere) shells of the Earth and farther to the surrounding space.