1] Institute of Geosciences, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya Nab. 7/9, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia [2] Nanomaterials Research Center, Kola Science Center of RAS, Fersman Str. 18, 184200 Apatity, Russia.
Institute of Geosciences, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya Nab. 7/9, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sci Rep. 2015 Feb 10;5:8355. doi: 10.1038/srep08355.
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.
自然磷化物——指在氧化还原状态下磷含量低于零的矿物质——是陨石的常见成分，但在地球上几乎未知。在此，我们首次发现了富铁镍磷化物的地球起源。在死海周边的三个地方——以色列北部内盖夫沙漠和安曼南部的约旦外约旦高原——可以看到含磷岩石。已鉴定出来自三元 Fe-Ni-P 系统的七种矿物，其中有五种，即 NiP2、Ni5P4、Ni2P、FeP 和 FeP2，此前在自然界中尚未发现。本研究的结果可能为自然磷化物的地球起源提供新的认识——这是早期地球时期最有可能的反应性前生物磷的来源。
