TY - JOUR

T1 - Earth's Phosphides in Levant and insights into the source of Archean prebiotic phosphorus

AU - Britvin, S.N.

AU - Murashko, M.N.

AU - Vapnik, Y.

AU - Polekhovsky, Y.S.

AU - Krivovichev, S.V.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - Natural phosphides - the minerals containing phosphorus in a redox state lower than zero – are common constituents of meteorites but virtually unknown on the Earth. Herein we present the first rich occurrence of iron-nickel phosphides of terrestrial origin. Phosphide-bearing rocks are exposed in three localities in the surroundings of the Dead Sea, Levant: in the northern Negev Desert, Israel and Transjordan Plateau, south of Amman, Jordan. Seven minerals from the ternary Fe-Ni-P system have been identified with five of them, NiP2, Ni5P4, Ni2P, FeP and FeP2, previously unknown in nature. The results of the present study could provide a new insight on the terrestrial origin of natural phosphides – the most likely source of reactive prebiotic phosphorus at the times of the early Earth.

AB - Natural phosphides - the minerals containing phosphorus in a redox state lower than zero – are common constituents of meteorites but virtually unknown on the Earth. Herein we present the first rich occurrence of iron-nickel phosphides of terrestrial origin. Phosphide-bearing rocks are exposed in three localities in the surroundings of the Dead Sea, Levant: in the northern Negev Desert, Israel and Transjordan Plateau, south of Amman, Jordan. Seven minerals from the ternary Fe-Ni-P system have been identified with five of them, NiP2, Ni5P4, Ni2P, FeP and FeP2, previously unknown in nature. The results of the present study could provide a new insight on the terrestrial origin of natural phosphides – the most likely source of reactive prebiotic phosphorus at the times of the early Earth.

U2 - 10.1038/srep08355

DO - 10.1038/srep08355

M3 - Article

VL - 5

SP - 8355

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

SN - 2045-2322

ER -