Carnegie Institution announced that a new study "found that the mineral kingdom co-evolved with life, and that up to two thirds of the more than 4,000 known types of minerals on Earth can be directly or indirectly linked to biological activity. The finding, published in American Mineralogist*, could aid scientists in the search for life on other planets." [right, primordial Earth. Credit, Rich Townsend]
There's a fascinating video interview with author Robert Hazen.
*Robert M. Hazen, Dominic Papineau, Wouter Bleeker, Robert T. Downs, John M. Ferry, Timothy J. McCoy, Dimitri Sverjensky and Hexiong Yang (2008) Mineral evolution. American Mineralogist. 93:1693-1720.