ENST: Phosphorus Special Delivery

Geological and atmospheric
“supply chains” deliver a
critical resource for life

Earth’s Phosphorus Supply Chains Revealed
by David Coppedge
Evolution News & Science Today, June 16, 2025

Life as we know it could not exist without phosphorus. I’ve written before about this essential element (here, here), but geochemists know that of the 29 atomic elements required for human life, availability of phosphorus worldwide is restricted by chemical and geological constraints. Astrobiologists therefore consider phosphorus a limiting factor for life on earth and habitable planets, because it is not clear whether it would be expected in planetary crusts or in the stellar disks from which they are presumed to form. Even if it were present, how could it move from the interior to the surface where life needs it?

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Based on the profusion of life in every habitat we know here on earth, whether in oceanic, polar, desert, rainforest, or montane ecosystems, I had a hunch that earth somehow “solved” this supply chain problem. Indeed, vast coal seams and fossil fuels speak of even richer ecosystems in the past. Fossils show that each species was well supplied with phosphorus for its ATP, membranes, and DNA. New research indicates surprising ways that our planet distributes phosphorus where it is needed and conserves existing supplies.

Underground Delivery

Three years ago, I noted that a phytoplankton bloom resulted from the Hunga-Tonga volcano (here), suggesting one geological process aiding the supply of phosphorus to the oceans. “The role of volcanoes and orogenic processes in keeping phosphorus plentiful throughout Earth’s history,” I said, “deserves elaboration by design theorists.” ….

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Notice that later in the article, there is a reference to the reporting by Sarah Buckland-Reynolds from her CEH article 11 June 2025.