See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: Planetary Pummeling: Cataclysmic Bombardment of the Solar System as Catastrophe, Catalyst, Cauldron, and Crucible
Abstract:
Phosphorus is a key biologic element. It forms the backbone of DNA and RNA, and shuffles energy as ATP. However, phosphorus on the earth is limited to orthophosphate minerals, which tend to be poor sources of phosphorus for abiotic production of organophosphates. Comparatively, meteoritic phosphorus resides in reactive phosphide minerals like schreibersite, (Fe,Ni)3P, which corrodes in water to form reduced P compounds, and reacts with organics forming organic P compounds (Pasek et al., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 2007). Post-bombardment P geochemistry might have been more favorable to the production of key precursors of life due to the large influx of meteoritic P. This hypothesis suggests that P compounds in rocks deposited soon after the heavy bombardment period may have included reduced species, providing a tracer on the biologic effects of the late heavy bombardment (Pasek, PNAS 2008).
See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: Planetary Pummeling: Cataclysmic Bombardment of the Solar System as Catastrophe, Catalyst, Cauldron, and Crucible