After lightning struck a tree in a New Port Richey area, a University of South Florida scientist discovered the strike led to the formation of a new phosphorus material. It was identified in a rock – the first time in solid form on Earth – and could represent a member of a new mineral group.
“We have never seen this material occur naturally on Earth – minerals similar to it can be found in meteorites and space, but we’ve never seen this exact material anywhere,” said geoscientist Matthew Pasek.
Pasek recently looked at how high-energy incidents, like lightning, can trigger unusual chemical reactions, and in this case, result in a novel substance that is transitional between space minerals and the earth’s crust, as per the University of South Florida.
“When lightning strikes a tree, the ground typically explodes out and the surrounding grass dies, forming a scar and sending electric discharge through nearby rock, soil and sand, forming fulgurites, also known as ‘fossilized lightning’,” Pasek said.
When the New Port Richey homeowners discovered the ‘lightning scar’, they found a fulgurite and decided to sell it, determining it had value.
Pasek purchased it, and then began an association with Luca Bindi, a professor of mineralogy and crystallography at the University of Florence in Italy.
In order to better comprehend high-energy phenomena, the team decided to look into unusual phosphorus-bearing minerals, particularly those created by lightning.
“It’s important to understand how much energy lightning has because then we know how much damage a lightning strike can cause on average and how dangerous it is,” Pasek said. “Florida is the lightning capital of the world and lightning safety is important – if lightning is strong enough to melt rock, it can certainly melt people too.”
Pasek claims that iron will often collect and encrust tree roots in moist regions, such as Florida. In this instance, the lightning strike ignited both the naturally occurring carbon in the tree and the iron on the tree roots, causing both to catch fire. The interaction of the two substances resulted in the formation of fulgurite, which had the resemblance of a metal “glob.”
The material was attempted to be recreated in a lab by co-principal investigator Tian Feng, a USF geology graduate. As a result of the experiment’s failure, it can be concluded that the substance forms swiftly under specific circumstances and that, if heated for an extended period of time, it will transform into the mineral found in meteorites.
Given the rarity of it present naturally, Pasek claims that it is uncertain that this material could be mined for uses similar to those of other phosphates, such as fertiliser. Pasek and Bindi, however, intend to carry out more research on the substance to see if it can be formally classified as a mineral and raise more awareness among scientists, as per the University of South Florida.
