Schreibersite
Template:Short description Template:Infobox mineral Schreibersite is generally a rare iron nickel phosphide mineral, Template:Chem2, though common in iron-nickel meteorites. It has been found on Disko Island in Greenland<ref>"Power behind primordial soup discovered", Eurekalert, April 4, 2013</ref> and Illinois.<ref name="hess">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="temming">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref name=Webmin>Schreibersite. Webmineral</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.<ref>Report of U of A Extra-terrestrial Phosphorus</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Sasso, Anne (January 3, 2005) Life's Fifth Element Came From Meteors. Discover Magazine.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Lightning strikes may have provided an alternative source of reduced phosphorus species for the synthesis of early biomolecules.<ref name="pasek">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="hess"/><ref name="temming"/>