High-energy events, such as intense lightning strikes hitting our planet during its formative years, have contributed to the creation of one of the essential materials for life, as revealed by a lightning strike in the United States.
According to Sci-News, a new phosphite material formed by lightning has been discovered in New Port Richey, Florida, USA.
It is known as a “fulgurite”, also referred to as “fossilized lightning.” “When lightning strikes a tree, the ground often explodes, and the surrounding grass dies, creating a scar and conducting electricity through nearby rocks, soil, and sand, resulting in fossilized lightning,” explained Professor Mathew Paskel from the University of South Florida, the lead author of the study.
“Fossilized lightning” discovered in the USA – (Photo: Communications Earth & Environment)
The fossilized lightning found in Florida contains a crystal-like substance that is colorful and is a material never before found in the natural environment on Earth.
Scientists have only found this peculiar “crystal” in meteorites and outer space, but they cannot pinpoint exactly where this material originates.
An experiment aimed at recreating the process by which this unusual material was formed was unsuccessful but reinforced the idea that it can only be created by something as powerful as a lightning strike from outer space. It is a form of phosphate, produced when lightning strikes phosphide compounds in Earth’s natural environment.
This suggests that other phosphates, which are the primary source of phosphorus on Earth and a crucial element for the emergence of life, may have come from the continuous lightning strikes on our planet during its early years, a notion that has been confirmed in other studies.
Previously, the abundance of phosphorus on Earth remained a significant question because this mineral in the form of phosphate was believed to be absent when the planet first formed.
The research has just been published in the scientific journal Communications Earth & Environment.
