Pathways for abiotic organic synthesis at submarine hydrothermal fields

Pathways for abiotic organic synthesis at submarine hydrothermal fields.

Arguments for an abiotic origin of low-molecular weight organic compounds in deep-sea hot springs are compelling owing to implications for the sustenance of deep biosphere microbial communities and their potential role in the origin of life. Theory predicts that warm H2-rich fluids, like those emanating from serpentinizing hydrothermal systems, create a favorable thermodynamic drive for the abi...

Carbon Isotope Composition of Organic Compounds Produced by Abiotic Synthesis Under Hydrothermal Conditions

Although it is widely believed that production of organic compounds by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and related processes occurs in many geologic environments, unambiguous identification of compounds with an abiotic origin in natural samples has been hampered by a lack of means to discriminate between abiotic compounds and organic matter from biological sources. While isotopic compositions might p...

Experimental Study of Abiotic Synthesis Processes in a Hydrothermal Flow System: Implications for Organic Matter Formation in Extraterrestrial En-

Introduction: Hydrocarbons with an apparent abiotic origin are found in hydrothermal fluids from vents on unsedimented mid-ocean ridges. In particular, fluids from ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal systems contain significant quantities of many organic species other than methane [1-3]. Generation of significant amounts of long chain hydrocarbons was not reported in previous experimental studies [4...

Carbon Isotope Systematics in Mineral-catalyzed Hydrothermal Organic Synthesis Processes at High Temperatures and Pressures

The emergence of life from iron monosulphide bubbles at a submarine hydrothermal redox and pH front.

Here we argue that life emerged on Earth from a redox and pH front at c. 4.2 Ga. This front occurred where hot (c. 150 degrees C), extremely reduced, alkaline, bisulphide-bearing, submarine seepage waters interfaced with the acid, warm (c. 90 degrees C), iron-hearing Hadean ocean. The low pH of the ocean was imparted by the ten bars of CO2 considered to dominate the Hadean atmosphere/hydrospher...