Griffith E J
Ciba Found Symp. 1977(57):75-94. doi: 10.1002/9780470720387.ch5.
When the molten surface of the earth solidified over 4 X 10(9) years ago the quantity of phosphorus to be contained in the storehouse of the new planet had already been resolved. The phosphorus was locked in an igneous lithosphere as orthophosphate. With the advent of the first primitive rainstorms the slow endless process of liberating the phosphorus from the igneous rock strata had begun. It required about 3 X 10(9) years for this process to supply enough soluble phosphates for the seas of the earth to become saturated with respect to apatites. Today slightly more than half of the phosphate is contained in sedimentary deposits. The established phosphorus cycles of the earth were almost independent of the activities of mankind for more than 4 X 10(9) years. Only in the past 200 years has the influence been worthy of consideration and as late as the 1960s too few reliable data were available for us to assess the status of our activities on the natural cycles. Today a reasonably clear picture is emerging.
在40亿年前地球的熔融表面固化时，新形成的星球储存库中所含磷的数量就已确定。磷以正磷酸盐的形式被锁定在火成岩岩石圈中。随着第一场原始暴雨的降临，从火成岩地层中释放磷的漫长而缓慢的过程开始了。这个过程大约需要30亿年，才能为地球海洋提供足够的可溶性磷酸盐，使其相对于磷灰石达到饱和。如今，略超过一半的磷酸盐存在于沉积矿床中。在超过40亿年的时间里，地球上已确立的磷循环几乎不受人类活动的影响。只是在过去200年里，这种影响才值得关注，而直到20世纪60年代，可靠的数据仍然太少，以至于我们无法评估人类活动对自然循环的影响状况。如今，一幅较为清晰的图景正在显现。
