1. Boron, aluminium, carbon, silicon

2. Boron (B) Universe: 0.001 ppm (by weight) Sun: 0.002 ppm (by weight)
Carbonaceous meteorite: 1.6 ppm 
Earth's Crust: 950 ppm 
Seawater: 4.4 ppm

3. Introduction of boron
One of Goldschmidt early study (in 1923) showed that boron was much more abundant in sedimentary rocks (300 ppm) than in igneous rocks (3 ppm). The large variation in boron concentration of different rock types is a consequence of three characteristics: its preferential partitioning into melts, its high mobility in the aqueous phase and its strong affinity for clay minerals.

4. Boron in magmatic processes
Boron concentrations relatively low in basalts (6-0.1 ppm), and higher in more evolved rocks such as granites (85 ppm). Partitioning is not the only cause for high boron concentrations in granites; some S-type granites contain high concentrations because they are derived from boron-rich sedimentary material. The final residual melt phases often form pegmatites which may contain up to 1360 ppm boron with the boron concentrated within tourmalines
which can contain up to 4% boron. The tourmalines appear from pegmatitic to hydrothermal stages.
Well-known boron-silicates in basic magmatites are: danburite, datolite, axinite-group minerals.

5. Boron in magmatic processes
Submarine igneous rocks that have been hydrothermally altered are often altered to clay minerals such as smectite. Adsorption of boron onto these clays can account for elevated boron concentrations in altered basalts. Boron is thus progressively leached from the host-rock in high temperature in geothermal systems. Detail the order in which boron substitutes into secondary minerals; in decreasing order: biotite, pyroxenes, plagioclase, amphiboles. Boron frequently emanates from volcanic vents. For example, deposits of sassolite - B(OH)3 - commonly occur around the vents of fumaroles. The presence of sassolite suggests that boron is transported in the vapor phase.

6. Boron in weathering and sedimentary processes
The boron content of sedimentary rocks is partly related to the amount and type of clay minerals present. Clay minerals, such as illite, smectite and montmorillonite incorporate boron from water both by surface adsorption and as structurally bound boron. In contrary, the Al-oxides(hydroxides) and kaolinite-containing clays show lower boron concentrations. Marine sedimentary rocks tend to contain more boron than fluvial and lacustrine sedimentary rocks, as the seawater interacting with the marine rock contains more boron.

7. Boron in marine environment
The amount of boron in marine sediments is greater than the amount of boron in the ocean waters. Marine sediments contain about 100 ppm boron. Seawater contains 4.6 ppm boron, and concentrations do not vary significantly throughout the oceans. Boron is strongly adsorbed onto secondary minerals (e.g. clay minerals), and these may buffer the seawater boron concentration. Seawater is the source of virtually all of the boron in altered oceanic crust and much of the boron in sediments and island arc environments.

8. Boron in evaporites
The major source of boron is in borates from evaporite deposits, most commonly in desert playas, as borax and colemanite. Borax is by far the most significant mined source of boron. These deposits are in connection with thermal activity (boron-bearing thermal water).
Because of the differences of boron-concentrations of freshwater and seewater, the marine borates contain Na-Mg-K cations, while freshwater/lacustrine borates contain mainly Ca-Mg cations.

10. Boron in the biosphere
Boron is essential element of many plants. However, the soil has negative anomaly about boron (except of soil which lies in see-side).
Some marine animals show boron enrichment boron (e.g. corals, silica-spongiae). Marine sapropels have higher boron contains, than freshwater sapropels.

11. Aluminium (Al) Universe: 50 ppm (by weight) Sun: 60 ppm (by weight)
Carbonaceous meteorite: 9300 ppm 
Earth's Crust: ppm 
Seawater:   Atlantic surface: 9.7 x 10-4 ppm    
Pacific surface: 1.3 x 10-4 ppm    

12. Aluminium in magmatic processes
Aluminium is the most abundant metal (8.3%) in the Earth's crust. It is a major constituent of many igneous minerals such as feldspars. The Al-concentration shows enrichment from ultrabasic to acidic magmatics. It has low abundance in early magmatic differentiates, except anorthosite (it main mineral is anorthite). Calc-alkaline magmatic rocks contain the most important rock-forming silicates with Al (feldspars, amphiboles, micas, epidote, quartz). There are characteristic Si4+ Al3+ substitution in these silicates. The Al has a range of coordination numbers ( 4, 5 and 6) in solids / silicates.

13. Aluminium in magmatic and metamorphic processes
There are other compounds in magmatic and metamorphic processes, than corundum, spinel, topaz, chrysoberyl etc. The latter rather in post-magmatic stage. Some aluminosilicates can be used as indicators of PT conditions in metamorphism: kyanite, andalusite, sillimanite, which are polymorphs.

14. Aluminium in weathering and sedimentary processes
Aluminium has a low solubility at Earth's surface. This solubility is pH dependent and increases at low pH or in alkaline solution. A second important behavior concerns the increase of solubility in presence of organic ligands: chelating complexes with oxalic acids are responsible for a net increase of AI solubility. That accounts for the mobilization of AI in acid soils and the increase of AI concentration in natural acid solutions. Disordered aluminosilicates (allophane and imogolite) are frequently described in soils developed on ash parent materials and as stream precipitates in volcanic areas.

15. Aluminium in weathering and sedimentary processes
During weathering of crustal rocks, aluminium is accumulated in clay minerals (kaolinite, smectite, illite, vermiculite), or oxyhydroxides: böhmite AIO(OH) and hydroxide gibbsite, Al(OH)3). The type of secondary Al-containing minerals depend on the degree of chemical weathering. Bauxites mainly formed under tropic or subtropic climates. Lateritic bauxites contain mainly gibbsite, however böhmite can predominate in karstic bauxites. In tropical soils (and occassionally bauxites, too) AI may substitute for Fe in goethite and hematite. Diaspore, AIO(OH) and corundum (Al203) are high-temperature phases which are present in metamorphic bauxites.

16. Aluminium in the biosphere
Al widespread in all organics, but not essential element. It was detected up to 20 % Al-oxide some ash of plants, and of coal ash.
There is a tendency, that low-class animals contain more Al, than high-class animals.

17. Carbon (C) Universe: 5000 ppm (by weight) Sun: 3000 ppm (by weight)
Carbonaceous meteorite: ppm 
Atmosphere: 350 ppm 
Earth's Crust: 480 ppm 
Seawater: 23 ppm   

18. Introduction of carbon
Unique characteristic: it forms in more compounds than the all element together.
High abundance in the Universe, the Sun, and the Earths crust, too.
It has siderophil character in meteorites, lithophil in the Earths crust, atmophil in the atmosphere, and biophil in the biosphere. Essential element for the life.

19. Carbon in magmatic and metamorphic processes
Prominent carbon-containing natural materials include diamond, the hardest of the minerals, with a three-dimensional structure; graphite, often used as a lubricant because its two dimensional structure allows planes to slip laterally. Diamond is high-pressure polymorph of carbon, origin from the Earth mantle, and moves to the crusts quick magmatic processes. Graphite is a high-temperature polymorph of carbon, it forms mainly metamorph processes, or it has pegmatitic origin. However, graphite can form on Earth from sedimentary organic carbon subjected to high pressures at great depths of burial, high temperatures or both.

20. Carbon in magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary processes
Carbon is a constituent of carbonate anion. The simple carbonates (minerals of calcite and aragonite groups) occur in post-magmatic origin (except carbonatites, which are early differentiates), and in sedimentary environments. Carbonate anion can build in silicates structures, e.g. in scapolites, cancrinites. Similar appearance is known in apatite structure, too. A relatively recently-discovered three-dimensional structure group, called fullerenes, forms a near-spherical cage of carbon atoms. The first identified fullerene structure consisted of 60 carbon atoms. Fullerenes occur naturally on Earth in some metamorphic rocks and meteorite impact crater debris.

21. Carbon in weathering and sedimentary processes
Carbonate sediments comprise a major portion of the Earth's sedimentary rocks. Carbonate rocks consist almost entirely of calcite (CaCO3), which is predominantly biogenic in origin, and dolomite - CaMg(CO3)2 - which is formed by diagenic alteration of calcite (so-called Mg-metasomatism). Another major type of sedimentary rock, shale, contains widely varying amounts and types of sedimentary organic carbon. The high-carbon end member of sedimentary organic carbon (mixture of carbon-containing compounds) is coal. Oil-shale has a wide range of carbon content, and may play a major role as an energy source in the future.

22. Organic minerals – carbon in the lithosphere-biosphere interaction
Organic minerals are natural organic compounds with both a well-defined chemical composition and crystallographic properties; their occurrences reveal traces of the high concentration of certain organic compounds in natural environments. The organic minerals are divided into two groups: (1) ionic organic minerals, in which organic anions (it can contains carbon) and various cations are held together by ionic bonds, and (2) molecular organic minerals, in which electroneutral organic molecules (mainly carbon-containing) are bonded by weak intermolecular interactions.

23. Organic minerals – carbon in the lithosphere-biosphere ineraction
1) Ionic organic minerals, oxalates, formates, acetates, mellitates, citrates etc. The most widespread are the oxaletes, e.g. whewellite, weddelite. 2) Molecular organic minerals, amides, purines, polycyclic aromatic organic minerals (e.g. kárpátite), alkanes (evenkite). Molecular mixing occurs in molecular organic minerals and leads to molecular solid-solutions. In natural environments, the distinction between inorganic and organic materials is obscure, and thus the interactions between inorganic and organic materials are ubiquitous. Lichens and fungi living on mineral surfaces produce organic acids and facilitate the dissolution of heavy metals such as Cd, Pb etc.

25. Organic minerals
Organic minerals are expected to be promising biomarkers in the detection of life and in the recognition of biological activity in the geological records of extraterrestrial material, such as Mars. If we consider such products of organic–inorganic interactions and living organisms as members of the mineral kingdom, we could make unlimited contributions to many branches of Earth and planetary sciences.

26. Silicon (Si) Universe: 700 ppm (by weight) Sun: 900 ppm (by weight)
Carbonaceous meteorite: 1.4 x 105 ppm  
Earth's Crust: x 105 ppm  
Seawater:   
Atlantic surface: 0.03 ppm
Atlantic deep: 0.82 ppm
Pacific surface: 0.03 ppm
Pacific deep: 4.09 ppm

27. Silicon in magmatic processes
Silica refers to silicon bonded with two oxygen atoms and is one of the solid forms in which silicon is found in the Earths crust. Silicate is silicon complexed with four oxygen atoms in an anionic complex in aqueous solution or is the other solid form in which silicon is found. The small ionic radius of silicon (0.42 A) and ease of 4-way covalent bonding ensures that it is found mainly in tetrahedral coordination. Some substitution of aluminum (ionic radius 0.51 A) occurs causing an accompanying charge imbalance. This is the most often substitution of silicates.

28. Silicon in magmatic processes
It is found on the Earth's surface in coordination with oxygen as silica or silicate, SiO2 or SiO44-, respectively, although it can form octahedrally coordinated rarely, SiO68-in a few minerals, notably stishovite (SiO2), or in organic chelates. In solution, silicon is present as a monomer or polymer of silicic acid, H4SiO4. Silicon is a major component of most rock-forming minerals and hence can reach high concentrations in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The ability of silicate tetrahedra to polymerize in this manner is largely responsible for its importance in rock types which form under a wide range of physical and chemical conditions.

29. Silicon in magmatic processes
Silica phase relationships are complex and controlled mainly by the degree of condensation of silicate monomers and the extent of substitution of aluminum for silicon. The classical Bowen reaction series has two branches describing the order in which the major silicate minerals crystallize from magma as the temperature of the melt decreases. The Si-concentration of magmas show enrichment from ultrabasic to acidic range (from olivine – pyroxene – feldspar – to quartz).

30. Silica polymorphs
There are several polymorphs of silica of which the dominant form is low or -quartz at Earth's surface conditions. Evidence of the occurrence of high or -quartz can be found as -quartz pseudomorphs. Cristobalite is commonly intergrown with K-feldspar in devitrification textures. Cristobalite and tridymite are observed rarely in cavities of siliceous volcanic rocks. Cristobalite and cristobalite-tridymite intergrowths known as opal-CT are observed in young cherts, volcanic tuffs, and marine rocks as metastable diagenetic phases between opal-A, amorphous silica with varying amounts of water, and the stable phase, -quartz. Coesite and stishovite are observed in high pressure environments such as impact craters.

31. Silica polymorphs
The diagenesis of silica in marine rocks is of considerable interest because of the high organic carbon contents, and hence petroleum-generating potential, of many highly siliceous sediments, and because of the effect of silica phase on rock properties which then affect the ability of the rock to transmit or store petroleum. Planktonic marine diatoms and radiolaria extract silicic acid from seawater to build their frustules or tests. The product is highly porous amorphous silica with a variable but high water content (up to 30%) and high surface area. This amorphous silica, opal-A, undergoes diagenetic reactions usually through an intermediate phase, opal-CT, to the thermodynamically stable phase, quartz.

32. Silicon in weathering and sedimentary processes
Silicate minerals formed upon the cooling of magma or during metamorphic processes react in three ways upon exposure to water and oxygen at Earth surface conditions. Minerals in which all or most of the resulting elements are soluble dissolve congruently. Olivine and pyroxene are examples of this type of silicate mineral. Minerals in which at least some of the resulting constituents are only slightly soluble weather incongruently. Feldspars are examples of this type of silicate mineral. In particular, minerals containing aluminum tend to weather incongruently producing clay minerals, the precise type of which depends upon the climate and parent material.

33. Silicon in weathering and sedimentary processes
The highly resistant minerals have very low aqueous solubilities, they are unreactive. Quartz is an example of this type of mineral and it is found in soil profiles after other minerals have altered or dissolved. In fact, quartz is so highly resistant to both chemical weathering and mechanical weathering that it is the main constituent of the highly evolved sedimentary rocks, sandstones. Dissolved silica concentrations in surface waters show different values (river water: 6-16 ppm, seewater in surface: under 1 ppm, in subsurface: 4-6 ppm). This range in concentration reflects the reactivity of the phases involved as well as the effects of other processes such as adsorption.

34. Silicon in weathering and sedimentary processes
Quartz is relatively slow to reach equilibrium while amorphous silica dissolves and precipitates quickly. Hence waters are often greatly oversaturated with respect to quartz and under to nearly saturated with respect to amorphous silica. The exception are thermal springs in which quartz-saturated waters rising rapidly through near surface rocks are emitted on the surface. At this temperature ( ~ 100°C), the solubilities of quartz and amorphous silica are nearly the same. The solubility of silica strongly depends of pH, it easily dissolved in high pH. If the pH values decrease, the silica precipitate again.