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Native Phosphorus from
Yomitan, Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
| Locality type: | Village | |
| Classification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Species: | Native Phosphorus | |
| Formula: | P4 | |
| Comments: | In the summer of 1994, coastal villagers observed smoke rising from an undersea limestone reef exposed at very low tide. Press reports stated that the burning material had been identified as yellow phosphorus at Ryukyu University (Okinawa's national university). It was hypothesized to have formed by bacterial(!) reduction of phosphates (guano?) and there was a preliminary proposal to name this mineral "okinawalite". Considering that large quantities of white phosphorus incendiary bombs were dropped on Okinawa by U.S. forces in 1945, and there are still occasional reports of these catching fire after removal from underwater, the natural origin of the "okinawalite" might be dubious, although villagers claim such phenomena had been happening since ancient times, long before WWII. | |
| Confirmation | ||
| Validity: | Unconfirmed/Questioned | |
| Data | ||
| Mineral Data: | Click here to view Native Phosphorus data | |
| Locality Data: | Click here to view Yomitan, Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan | |
| Data Identifiers | ||
| Mindat Occurrence Record ID: | 730885 | |
| Long-form Identifier: | 1:3:730885:7 | |
| GUID (UUID V4): | 0 | |
| References | ||
