Phosphate availability and implications for life on ocean worlds

Noah G. Randolph-Flagg (), Tucker Ely, Sanjoy M. Som, Everett L. Shock, Christopher R. German and Tori M. Hoehler
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Noah G. Randolph-Flagg: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field
Tucker Ely: Universities Space Research Association
Sanjoy M. Som: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field
Everett L. Shock: Arizona State University
Christopher R. German: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole
Tori M. Hoehler: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Several moons in the outer solar system host liquid water oceans. A key next step in assessing the habitability of these ocean worlds is to determine whether life’s elemental and energy requirements are also met. Phosphorus is required by all known life and is often limited to biological productivity in Earth’s oceans. This raises the possibility that its availability may limit the abundance or productivity of Earth-like life on ocean worlds. To address this potential problem, here we calculate the equilibrium dissolved phosphate concentrations associated with the reaction of water and rocks—a key driver of ocean chemical evolution—across a broad range of compositional inputs and reaction conditions. Equilibrium dissolved phosphate concentrations range from 10−11 to 10−1 mol/kg across the full range of carbonaceous chondrite compositions and reaction conditions considered, but are generally > 10−5 mol/kg for most plausible scenarios. Relative to the phosphate requirements and uptake kinetics of microorganisms in Earth’s oceans, such concentrations would be sufficient to support initially rapid cell growth and construction of global ocean cell populations larger than those observed in Earth’s deep oceans.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37770-9

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