At the end of 1970s, the new theory of sedimentology, especially the achievements of carbonate rock research, was introduced into the study of phosphate rock, and great progress was made. From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, the National Symposium on Phosphate Rock (Kunming, 198 1) and the Fifth International Symposium on Phosphate Rock (Kunming, 65438) were held successively, especially in Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces. A large number of geologists, experts and professors engaged in the geological exploration and research of phosphate rock have made in-depth research on the ore deposit geology, petrology, mineralogy, sedimentology, sedimentary environment, lithofacies palaeogeography, genesis and other fields of Sinian system. These achievements are mostly reported in the form of papers, which are mostly included in the domestic and foreign phosphate rock academic papers of 198 1 982. In the past 35 years, the research of phosphate rock has made two great progress. The first step is to focus on the theory of physical enrichment of ore. By the mid-1980s, it can be said that the theory of physical enriched ore reached its peak, which was marked by the publication of Ye Lianjun et al. (1986)' s Theory of Physical Enriched Ore in Industrial Phosphate and his book China Phosphate (1988). Ye Lianjun and others discussed the physical enrichment of phosphorite in their works: "China's industrial phosphorite is mainly layered phosphorite with clastic structure, which is the product of physical enrichment of various source beds through detritus, transportation, redeposition and repeated washing and winnowing". The second step of phosphorite research is the development of biomineralization theory. 198 1 ~ 1983, a large number of various forms of phosphorus microorganisms (fossils) were found in the ores of the main industrial phosphate deposits in southern China in late Sinian and early Cambrian. It is believed that the phosphorite was built by microorganisms, and the phosphorite built by microorganisms was published (Journal of Sedimentary Sciences, 65438, Zhu Shixing et al. (1984). Through the study of the phosphorite in Kaiyang, it is considered that the formation of phosphorite is closely related to algae and ancient microorganisms. Shen and Zeng Yunfu (1989) studied the phosphorite in eastern Yunnan, and found five categories of phosphorite 15 genera, which indicated that algae played a leading role in the formation of phosphorite. Ye Lianjun et al. (1989) regarded organisms as one of the main sources of phosphorus in their book China Phosphate Rock, and listed seven biological sources, including bacteria and microalgae remains. Dongye Maixing (1985, 1989, 1990, 199 1) introduced microbiology, biochemistry and medicine into the study of phosphate rock, and further studied biomineralization, biological phosphorus accumulation mechanism, metallogenic conditions and paleogeography of metallogenic structure. These results show that the late Sinian and early Cambrian phosphorites in southern China are mainly constructed by organisms, especially phosphorus microorganisms.

Biomineralization is an important topic in the frontier field of contemporary earth science development, which has attracted great attention of Academician Ye Lianjun. In his report at the seminar on biomineralization, he pointed out: "In the past, the research on biomineralization made slow progress for a long time, but in recent years, it began to receive extensive attention from the international scientific and technological community. In the largest geological congress of international geosciences, the contents of biomineralization in the previous sessions were quite scattered, but in the 28th congress of 1989, not only the topic of biomineralization was set up, but also a large number of biomineralization reports were made in other sub-conferences. As a frontier field of earth science development, biomineralization has aroused great interest in earth science in China. But in general, it is still in a weak or even blank state and must catch up. " At the beginning of 1990, at his initiative, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Bureau of Resources and Environment of China Academy of Sciences jointly held a seminar on biomineralization. Scholars attending the seminar, including 8 members (academicians) and nearly 100 experts, conducted extensive and in-depth argumentation, and put forward the project intention of "biomineralization and metallogenic background research", which was valued and adopted by relevant departments and adopted by 65438+. Under the auspices of Academician Ye Lianjun, a multidisciplinary research team composed of researchers from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry and Institute of Microbiology, China Geo University, Nanjing University, Chengdu University of Technology and other units began to discuss this difficult topic from 1992. Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, southern Shaanxi, Anhui, western Zhejiang and other areas in the Yangtze region are selected as the main research areas, and manganese, phosphorus, iron, lead and zinc, trona, barium and gold deposits are selected for key dissection. After four years of research, important research results have been achieved. The types, functions, processes, marks, reproduction of ore-forming organisms, and the environment and background conditions in which the mineralization process can be carried out are expounded in detail, thus affirming the important performance of biological organic matter in the whole mineralization process; It is confirmed that the most important ore-forming organisms are bacteria, algae and microorganisms. Confirmed and put forward two types of biological organic ore-forming indicators: *** 10; It is revealed that the mineralization of biological organic matter is restricted by the material basis of mineralization, the metallogenic environment and background, the coordination and distribution of sedimentary differentiation facies and biological community facies. The mineralization of biological organic matter is an event, and its temporal and spatial orientation is restricted by "sedimentary discontinuity effect" and "sedimentary boundary effect", so the temporal and spatial orientation of biological organic matter mineralization is regular, and the mineralization is predictable and has theoretical basis. From 65438 to 0997, the project passed the appraisal and acceptance by an expert group including four academicians, and considered that the project had made a breakthrough in the field of biomineralization research.

The above research results of biomineralization have been generally recognized, but it is still a pity that there is no experimental data to support biomineralization. In the process of studying phosphate rock in eastern Yunnan for many years, the author found that Dianchi Lake is a catchment basin formed by 20 catchment rivers, with a basin area of 3000km2. There are only 1 river in Mantichuan in the southwest, and a large number of Cambrian phosphorites are distributed in the east, south and west of Waihu Lake. Every year, a large amount of phosphorus is brought into Dianchi Lake, especially the phosphorus brought in by seven rivers flowing through the southern and eastern phosphate rock areas (layers). For example, Chaihe River inputs 355kg of total phosphorus per square kilometer every year. It can be said that Dianchi Lake is one of the lakes with the richest phosphorus sources in the world. Therefore, Dianchi Lake is a natural laboratory for studying modern phosphorus deposition and microbial mineralization experiments. He put forward the purpose, method and technical route of this idea, and conceived that the experimental study of mineralization is equal to 1998, which aroused great interest of Academician Ye. He encouraged that this is a bold, feasible and groundbreaking idea. If the experimental research results can be obtained, it will be an important contribution to the theory of biomineralization and should be implemented as soon as possible. 1999 The author applied for the project of National Natural Science Foundation "Modern Phosphorus Deposition and Countermeasures for Environmental Pollution Prevention in Dianchi Lake". The research team consists of Institute of Geology of Sinochem Bureau of Geology and Mining and Microbiology Laboratory of Biology Department of Yunnan University. After three years of field and indoor experimental research, the water and surface sediments (mud) in Dianchi Lake were sampled and tested according to a certain grid. According to the phosphorus content of sediments, it is divided into five areas. Each area is sampled by drilling core, and the water, surface sediments and core profile samples are detected to study the bacterial population, quantity, distribution characteristics and their relationship with phosphorus content. The study of modern phosphorus deposition in Dianchi Lake shows that there are a large number of microorganisms in Dianchi Lake, but there are two main types of microorganisms that can dissolve, transform, migrate, aggregate and deposit phosphorus: phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria and phosphorus-accumulating bacteria. In areas with high phosphorus content in sediments, the population and quantity of phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria are negatively correlated with the phosphorus content in sediments and positively correlated with the phosphorus content in water, while the population and quantity of phosphorus-accumulating bacteria are positively correlated with the phosphorus content in sediments and negatively correlated with the phosphorus content in water. In areas with low phosphorus content in sediments, the above correlation is opposite. The results show that when the population and reproduction of phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria are larger than those of phosphorus-accumulating bacteria, phosphorus in sediments migrates to water, and vice versa. This fact convincingly proves the important role of microorganisms in phosphorus cycle. The dissolution, transformation, migration, aggregation and deposition of phosphorus by Dianchi Lake, a living microorganism, provides strong evidence for the microbial mineralization theory of ancient phosphate rock, provides reliable experimental research data for the microbial mineralization theory, and fills the gap in the biological mineralization experiment.

The research results have been highly praised by senior academicians such as Yang Zunyi, Ye Lianjun and Ye Danian. They believe that this research is unique and takes the lead in setting an example, creating a precedent for phosphorite research, and its research results are in the leading position in the world. The research results support the theory of phosphorite microbial mineralization, provide experimental research data for ancient phosphorite biomineralization, and are a new contribution, which makes the theoretical research of phosphorite biomineralization rise to a new stage.

In recent decades, the research progress of phosphorite biomineralization has been divided into three steps. The first step is the discovery of a large number of phosphides of various algae and fungi in phosphorite and the study of biomineralization. The second step is the experimental study on the decomposition, migration, enrichment and deposition of phosphorus by modern living microorganisms under natural conditions, which provides valuable factual basis for microbial mineralization of ancient phosphate rocks. The third step is the theoretical system of microbial mineralization of phosphorite and the verification of prospecting practice, marked by Phosphate Mineralization. This book covers the discovery of phosphorus microorganisms, the establishment of microbial mineralization theory of phosphate rocks and the modern deposition of phosphorus. From the paleogeography of continental margin rock-forming structure matched with microbial metallogenic theory, to the sequence model of continental margin rock suite and phosphorite, and then to the establishment of ore-controlling (prospecting) model of continental margin rock; From the regional metallogenic regularity, enrichment regularity to metallogenic prediction, and then to the inspection of prospecting practice, a relatively complete and systematic theoretical system of phosphorite mineralization has been formed. It can be said that the research on biomineralization of phosphorite has reached its peak at present. The development of things is endless, and we can expect a new development in the study of phosphorite.