Mineralogical Crystallography and Biomineralization

Aims

The section “Mineralogical Crystallography and Biomineralization” aims for the publication of high-impact research articles on natural solids of geogenic or biogenic origin. The section serves as a forum for research progress on all aspects of structure, properties, function, and genesis, including experimental laboratory or computational simulations. A special focus area is mineral/organism interaction as relevant to origin of life, evolution, and any process of coupling between life and the mineral world. Advancements in our understanding of structural state and stability, morphogenesis, self-organization, reactivity, kinetics and mechanisms of nucleation and growth processes, dissolution processes, and the dynamics and thermal behavior of minerals and biominerals are considered important, along with the diverse potential applications or biological functions of thermodynamic, mechanical, chemical, electronic, magnetic, or optical properties. In addition, the use of minerals as archives for diagnostics of environmental conditions, e.g., via trace element and isotopic signatures are of interest.

Crystals serves as a reference and publication source for the crystalline research community. Crystals publishes reviews, regular research articles, and short communications. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental, theoretical, and computational results in as much detail as possible so that results can be reproduced. Therefore, there are no restrictions on article length.

Subject Areas

All aspects related to the structure, properties, function, and genesis of natural geogenic or biogenic materials, including but not limited to:

• Structure and dynamics on all length scales, from atomistic to macroscopic
• Hybrid composite structures
• Hierarchical architectures
• Diagnostic signatures in composition, trace elements, and isotopes
• Thermodynamics, energetics, stability, and reactivity
• Nucleation and growth processes
• Evolution of microstructures and morphology
• Surface processes
• Mineral/biomolecule interactions
• Understanding of morphology in both inorganic and biologic environments
• Biological regulation of mineral growth

             - mineral/organic interface

             - physiological process control, function of membranes

             - proteins regulating biomineralization

• Experimental synthesis
• Biomimetic synthesis
• Fundamental aspects of mineral processing
• Fundamental understanding and consequence of mineral/organism interactions

             - environmental and paleoenvironmental response and indicators

             - microbial activity on mineral surfaces

             - weathering

             - bioleaching

             - biological evolution

             - role of inorganic crystals in the origin of life

• Properties and function

             - thermal

             - mechanical

             - electrical

             - magnetic

             - optical

Theoretical methods, including but not limited to:

• Macroscopic and statistical thermodynamics
• Molecular dynamics
• Density functional theory
• Phase field theory
• Landau theory
• Non-equilibrium thermodynamics

Characterization techniques, including but not limited to:

• Electron microscopy, diffraction, and spectroscopy
• Electron microprobe analysis
• Optical imaging methods (e.g., polarization, confocal, fluorescence, interference, ultra-resolution)
• X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy (e.g., XRD, XRF, XAS, XPS, XPEEM)
• Neutron diffraction and spectroscopy
• Synchrotron and free-electron laser techniques
• Photoluminescence
• Electron luminescence
• Scanning probe microscopy (e.g., AFM, STM, MFM)
• Mass spectrometry
• Raman spectroscopy
• Infrared spectroscopy
• Nuclear magnetic resonance
• Electron spin resonance
• Rutherford backscattering

Property characterizations, including but not limited to

• Calorimetry
• Mechanical testing
• Nanoindentation
• Carrier transport
• Magnetic property measurements