Occurrence, Distribution and Impact

Vanadium (element No. 23) is comparatively abundant in the universe. At 0.0001%, its cosmic abundance is comparable to that of copper and zinc. The cosmic abundance is, e.g., reflected in chondritic meteorites, which contain 220 atoms of the isotope in relation to 10 silicium atoms. Cosmic formation of vanadium is based on the a, y cascade up to Cr, followed by the reaction sequence  

The isotope accounts for 99.75% of the naturally occurring isotopes. The remaining 0.25% is supplied by the isotope V, whose cosmic formation is due to an electron-capture 

Mineral name Formula Oxidation state of vanadium Type of compound 

Scanning electron microscopy images of the soil bacterium Shewanella oneidensis (strain MR-1). The picture on the right shows the bacterium on haematite (Pe203). 

Another source of vanadium, of interest in biological and environmental contexts, are fossil fuels such as peat, coal, bitumen, oil-shales, asphalts and crude oil. The vanadium content of hard coal can vary from 0.007 to 0.34%. Crude oil from Albania (0.034%), the Volga-Ural region (0.061%) and Venezuela (0.12%) (upper limit in all three cases) is particularly rich in vanadium.I l A high vanadium content is often associated with high sulfur contents. The reasons for the notable enrichment of vanadium in fossils compared with bio-mass precursors such as bacteria, protozoans, algae, plants and animals are still under debate. Possible mechanisms for a secondary input of vanadium in decaying 

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