OXIDE SPINEL AND DATA-DRIVEN DISCOVERY: A COMPREHENSIVE MINERALOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL DATA RESOURCE, INCORPORATING COMPOSITION, LOCATION, AND PARAGENESIS

Oxide spinels (X₃O₄) are a group of minerals, including spinel (MgAl₂O₄) and magnetite (Fe₃O₄), with the same general crystal structural and an almost unlimited range of solid solutions. They can be found in the Earth’s mantle, metamorphic rocks, igneous rocks and meteorites. Oxide spinels therefore offer a broad, interesting opportunity to explore mineral paragenesis and deep time within the new paradigm of analyzing large mineralogical data sets with advanced analytical and visualization techniques.

Oxide spinel sample analysis data were compiled during a summer internship program for George Mason University undergraduates at the Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory, from a variety of sources ranging from large databases (EarthChem,¹ RRUFF,² GEOROC,³ Georef⁴) to individual peer-reviewed literature. This standardized dataset consists of over 75,000 oxide spinel sample analyses and incorporates locality information, paragenetic modes (including core-rim differentiation), age, temperature, pressure, and geochemistry. Much of the data was published as simply ”spinel” and not specified as an individual species. The major oxides are reported in weight percent (wt%), while trace elements and rare earth elements (REEs) are recorded in parts per million (ppm). Paragenetic and locality attributes for each sample were classified by specific rock type name (e.g., basalt, harzburgite, chondrite), and reported latitude and longitude. For meteorites, location was either omitted or defined as “found location”. Iron data was inconsistently reported (e.g., Fe³⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe₂O₃, FeO, total FeO). In addition to including the original reported unit(s) of each Fe measurement, each was also converted to total FeO and total Fe₂O₃.

This comprehensive database of oxide spinel information is intended to be an open access resource for future mineralogical studies that will advance the process of scientific discovery in Earth and planetary science.

1. earthchem.org/portal
2. Lafuente et al. (2015) The power of databases: the RRUFF project. In Highlights in Mineralogical Crystallography, 1–30
3. http://georoc.mpch-mainz.gwdg.de/georoc/
4. https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/georef