Phosphorus overabundance in quasars re-examined

Absorption features in the UV spectra in about 10-15% of quasars show very broad profiles, indicating outflow velocities from the quasars of one or ev en two tenths the speed of light. Determinations of the abundances of some elements, particularly phosphorus, have yielded apparent large overabundanc es relative to solar. However, it has recently been shown that the absorbin g gas which does not completely cover the continuum source of the emission- line clouds may have large optical depth so that the absorption lines are h eavily saturated, leading to spurious overabundances of some elements, incl uding phosphorus.