A Hydrothermal-Sedimentary Context for the Origin of Life

Astrobiology
Frances WestallA Brack

Abstract

Critical to the origin of life are the ingredients of life, of course, but also the physical and chemical conditions in which prebiotic chemical reactions can take place. These factors place constraints on the types of Hadean environment in which life could have emerged. Many locations, ranging from hydrothermal vents and pumice rafts, through volcanic-hosted splash pools to continental springs and rivers, have been proposed for the emergence of life on Earth, each with respective advantages and certain disadvantages. However, there is another, hitherto unrecognized environment that, on the Hadean Earth (4.5-4.0 Ga), would have been more important than any other in terms of spatial and temporal scale: the sedimentary layer between oceanic crust and seawater. Using as an example sediments from the 3.5-3.33 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, analogous at least on a local scale to those of the Hadean eon, we document constant permeation of the porous, carbonaceous, and reactive sedimentary layer by hydrothermal fluids emanating from the crust. This partially UV-protected, subaqueous sedimentary environment, characterized by physical and chemical gradients, represented a widespread system of miniature chemical reactors in ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 8, 2018·Life·Avinash Vicholous DassFrances Westall
Apr 5, 2019·Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere : the Journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·Kazumi YoshiyaShigenori Maruyama
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Dec 17, 2019·Astrobiology·Bruce Damer, David Deamer
Mar 1, 2020·Life·Martina PreinerJoana C Xavier
Aug 5, 2020·Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere : the Journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·Arthur Omran
Aug 19, 2020·Viruses·Jonathan ColombetTélesphore Sime-Ngando
Sep 3, 2020·Astrobiology·G R OsinskiH M Sapers
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Jan 18, 2020·Life·Andrew GangidineAndrew D Czaja
May 18, 2020·FEBS Letters·Andrey do Nascimento VieiraMartina Preiner
Oct 31, 2020·Astrobiology·David A KringMartin Schmieder
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May 14, 2021·Nature Communications·Avinash Vicholous DassFrancesco Piazza
Jul 3, 2021·Life·Benton C ClarkJesús Martínez-Frías

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
rheology
X-ray

Software Mentioned

PHREEQC
PAAS
PHREECQ

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