Biogenic Factor and Phosphogenesis: Legends and Realities

The article discusses the role of organisms in industrial phosphorite formation. This question is not an idle one, because theoretical solutions and mineral research recommendations so important for the development of agriculture depend on its solution. Scientists have been dealing with this problem for more than a century, but they have not come to a common conclusion. No one doubts that biota, one way or another, takes part in phosphogenesis. Its role is interpreted in different ways: from indirect, to the main ores-forming. Now, after well-known experiments with the precipitation of phosphate by cyano-bacteria, the biogenic factor is again at its height. The material presented in this article shows that such a point of view is more based on emotions than on an impassive analysis of geological facts, such as the structure of stromatolite and oncolite Ediacaran phosphorites, as well as the results of geological exploration Russian and Mongolia deposits of the Okino-Khubsugul basin. These facts indicate a highly exaggerated role of cyano-bacteria in the formation of industrial phosphorites accumulations. So, the article concludes that the biogenic factor is an important, but not the main part of phosphogenesis. Most often, industrial phosphorite accumulations due to a combination of diagenesis processes with sediment rewashing, and early diagenetic phosphatization of precipitation becomes the ore-forming factor during the formation of structureless phosphorites. Finally, it is important to note that phosphogenesis is an extremely multifaceted natural phenomenon and it is counterproductive to put biogenic factor at the head.