Elements

Sulfur

By 2012-07-01T00:00:00

Amorphophallus titanium in full bloom

We can't live with it and we can't live without it

Meteorites

Sulfur is everywhere and occurs naturally as elemental sulfur, S8. It is present in some meteorites, and there appears to be a deposit of sulfur on the Moon near the crater Aristarchus. The surface of Io, one of Jupiter's moons, is covered with sulfur and spews it from active volcanoes.

There are vast deposits of sulfur on Earth, some of biological origin. The bacterium Pyrobaculum islandicum  lives in hot springs and laid down vast deposits of native sulfur during the Permian and Jurassic periods between 280 and 130 billion years ago, which were once mined on a large scale. 

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