Where does phosphate come from?

1 Answer
Mar 17, 2016

Most phosphate is locked up in crustal rocks as apatite or fluorapatite and similar minerals.

Explanation:

Phosphate is part of the rock cycle and the phosphorus cycle. Like all elements on Earth phosphorus originally came from a nebulae in space and was incorporated into matter as the planets formed.

Since then, phosphorous gets weathered out of rocks and transported via rivers to oceans where it re-precipites out as appetitive or fluorapatite. Some gets incorporated into life along the way. Phosphorous is key element of life in fact and forms part of our DNA genetic material.

http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Soil-Farming-and-Science/Science-Ideas-and-Concepts/The-phosphorus-cycle image source here