Iron nickel phosphide mineral usually found in meteorites
Schreibersite
General
Category
Phosphide mineral Meteorite mineral
Formula (repeating unit)
(Fe,Ni)3P
IMA symbol
Scb[1]
Strunz classification
1.BD.05
Dana classification
01.01.21.02
Crystal system
Tetragonal
Crystal class
Disphenoidal (4) H-M symbol: (4)
Space group
I4
Identification
Color
Silver-white to tin-white, tarnishes brass-yellow or brown
Crystal habit
Rarely in crystals, hoppered, plates, tablets, rods or needles
Cleavage
{001} perfect, {010} indistinct, {110} indistinct
Tenacity
Very brittle
Mohs scale hardness
6.5–7
Luster
Brilliant metallic
Streak
Dark gray
Diaphaneity
Opaque
Specific gravity
7.0–7.3
Optical properties
Uniaxial
References
[2][3][4]
Schreibersite is generally a rare iron nickel phosphide mineral, (Fe,Ni)3P, though common in iron-nickel meteorites. It has been found on Disko Island in Greenland[5] and Illinois.[6][7]
Another name used for the mineral is rhabdite. It forms tetragonal crystals with perfect 001 cleavage. Its color ranges from bronze to brass yellow to silver white. It has a density of 7.5 and a hardness of 6.5 – 7. It is opaque with a metallic luster and a dark gray streak. It was named after the Austrian scientist Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers (1775–1852), who was one of the first to describe it from iron meteorites.[3]
Schreibersite is reported from the Magura Meteorite, Arva-(present name – Orava), Slovak Republic; the Sikhote-Alin Meteorite in eastern Russia; the São Julião de Moreira Meteorite, Viana do Castelo, Portugal; the Gebel Kamil (meteorite) in Egypt; and numerous other locations including the Moon.[8]
In 2007, researchers reported that schreibersite and other meteoric phosphorus bearing minerals may be the ultimate source for the phosphorus that is so important for life on Earth.[9][10][11] In 2013, researchers reported that they had successfully produced pyrophosphite, a possible precursor to pyrophosphate, the molecule associated with ATP, a co-enzyme central to energy metabolism in all life on Earth. Their experiment consisted of subjecting a sample of schreibersite to a warm, acidic environment typically found in association with volcanic activity, activity that was far more common on the primordial Earth. They hypothesized that their experiment might represent what they termed "chemical life", a stage of evolution which may have led to the emergence of fully biological life as exists today.[12]
Lightning strikes may have provided an alternative source of reduced phosphorus species for the synthesis of early biomolecules.[13][6][7]
^Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W.; Nichols, Monte C., eds. (2000). "Schreibersite" (PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Vol. IV (Arsenates, Phosphates, Vanadates). Chantilly, VA, US: Mineralogical Society of America. ISBN 978-0962209727.
^"Power behind primordial soup discovered", Eurekalert, April 4, 2013
^ abHess, Benjamin L.; Piazolo, Sandra; Harvey, Jason (2021-03-16). "Lightning strikes as a major facilitator of prebiotic phosphorus reduction on early Earth". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 1535. Bibcode:2021NatCo..12.1535H. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21849-2. PMC 7966383. PMID 33727565.
^ abTemming, Maria (2021-04-10). "Phosphorus for Earth's earliest life may have been forged by lightning". Science News. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
^Hunter R. H.; Taylor L. A. (1982). "Rust and schreibersite in Apollo 16 highland rocks – Manifestations of volatile-element mobility". Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 12th, Houston, TX, March 16–20, 1981, Proceedings. Section 1. (A82-31677 15–91). New York and Oxford: Pergamon Press. pp. 253–259. Bibcode:1982LPSC...12..253H.
^Report of U of A Extra-terrestrial Phosphorus
^"5.2.3. The Origin of Phosphorus". The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems. National Academies Press. 2007. p. 56. doi:10.17226/11919. ISBN 978-0309104845.
^Sasso, Anne (January 3, 2005) Life's Fifth Element Came From Meteors. Discover Magazine.
^Bryant, D. E.; Greenfield, D.; Walshaw, R. D.; Johnson, B. R. G.; Herschy, B.; Smith, C.; Pasek, M. A.; Telford, R.; Scowen, I.; Munshi, T.; Edwards, H. G. M.; Cousins, C. R.; Crawford, I. A.; Kee, T. P. (2013). "Hydrothermal modification of the Sikhote-Alin iron meteorite under low pH geothermal environments. A plausibly prebiotic route to activated phosphorus on the early Earth". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 109: 90–112. Bibcode:2013GeCoA.109...90B. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2012.12.043.
Schreibersite is generally a rare iron nickel phosphide mineral, (Fe,Ni)3P, though common in iron-nickel meteorites. It has been found on Disko Island...
rounded nodules of troilite or graphite, surrounded by schreibersite and cohenite. Schreibersite and troilite also occur as plate shaped inclusions, which...
develop Widmanstätten patterns upon etching. Minor constituents are schreibersite, troilite, chromite, pyroxenes, and phosphates (whitlockite, stanfieldite...
Bühl near Kassel in Germany. Associated minerals include native iron, schreibersite, troilite and wustite. Similar iron carbides occur also in technical...
chromite, and millerite in peridotites; with kamacite, allabogdanite, schreibersite and graphite in meteorites. It was first described in 1885 for an occurrence...
Reduced phosphides have been identified in fulgurites, in the form of schreibersite (Fe3P and (Fe,Ni)3P), and titanium(III) phosphide. These reduced compounds...
phosphorus-rich phosphides which are less stable and include semiconductors. Schreibersite is a naturally occurring metal-rich phosphide found in meteorites. The...
fine-grained mixture called plessite is often found. An iron nickel phosphide, schreibersite, is present in most nickel-iron meteorites, as well as an iron-nickel-cobalt...
6 ppm iridium. It also contains the minerals chromite, daubréelite, schreibersite, akaganéite and inclusions of troilite. For the first time, analysis...
iron-containing meteorites. It typically accompanies kamacite, and more rarely schreibersite, cohenite or plessite. Cliftonite was first considered to be a new form...
currently has six members. They are hexahedrites with large amounts of schreibersite. The meteoric iron is composed of kamacite. Iron meteorites are designated...
River basin, Sakha Republic; Yakutia, Russia; associated with taenite, schreibersite, kamacite, graphite and awaruite. It was named for Russian geologist...
P3− 7 is obtained with diverse alkali metal derivatives. The mineral schreibersite (Fe,Ni)3P is common in some meteorites. Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw...
Coconino County, Arizona, US. It occurs associated with kamacite, taenite, schreibersite, cohenite, pentlandite and magnetite. Glossary of meteoritics Warr,...
The Bellsbank meteorite is a hexahedrite iron meteorite with abundant schreibersite. It is classified as a member of the IIG group. It was found in Bellsbank...
1016/0016-7037(90)90148-e. Easton, A. J. (1986). "Studies of kamacite, perryite and schreibersite in E-chondrites and aubrites". Meteoritics. 21 (1): 79–93. Bibcode:1986Metic...
(0.046 gr) and contained enstatite, kamacite, niningerite, silica, schreibersite, troilite, albite, and daubréelite. It is classed as an enstatite chondrite...
example, oils. SKP has been used to analyze the corrosion mechanisms of schreibersite-containing meteorites. The aim of these studies has been to investigate...
(1775–1871). The mineral is found in meteorites, and is known today as schreibersite. As a zoologist, he was the first to perform a comprehensive anatomical...
the meteorite. The nonoxidized parts consist of cohenite, rabdite, schreibersite and taenite. Other minerals are goethite, lepidocrocite, maghemite,...
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