Three-Dimensional Analysis of a Simulated Prebiotic Hydrothermal Chimney

Barge, Laura M.; Jones, John-Paul; Pagano, Jason J.; Martı́nez, E.; Bescup, John

doi:10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00186

Cited by 17 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(83 reference statements)

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“…However, in terms of life’s emergence on our planet, we have seen that olivine, and its two “offspring”, bridgmanite and serpentine, and accompanying pyrrhotite, did set the stage for life’s emergence. Comprising a portion of a membrane separating alkaline hydrothermal fluid from carbonic ocean water, fougerite can act as a hydrogen producer, nitrate/nitrite to ammonium converter, an aminase and phosphate attractor and low entropy environment for its condensation to pyrophosphate (as in olivine and the layered mineral canaphite) [ 155 , 156 , 177 , 213 , 214 , 215 ]. At the same time, Ni-bearing iron sulfide, likely mackinawite, and its offspring Ni-bearing greigite, can act as a hydrogenase, hydrogenating catalyst, free energy converter and electron wire or conductor [ 44 , 216 , 217 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, a recurring topic in AVT is the vital role of directed active transport; from inward migration of materials in the solar disc, gravitationally-driven convective transport in and on the planet, to ionic, including proton transport or translocation and electron conduction through the membrane—a prelude to vectorial metabolism [ 233 ]. And at the alkaline hydrothermal vent itself, one might imagine the fate of the two nickel-bearing iron nanocrystals to be “drawn down” into the entropy-generating vortex of emerging life, dressed in their organic polymers—the precursors of the structure-function-conformational relationships that can still be discerned in life today [ 145 , 177 , 234 , 235 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mackinawite—an electron conductor [ 176 ]—is the subordinate sulfide analogue of fougerite, precipitating with it at the submarine alkaline spring, and comprising a small inner portion of the membranes dividing ocean from alkaline hydrothermal solution ( Figure 5 ) [ 56 , 177 ]. Although, like fougerite it is a layered mineral, Bourdoiseau and coworkers [ 178 ] have shown, against earlier expectations, that it includes no layered hydrous intercalations.…”

Section: Two Minerals To Make Life Happenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Formate generation is driven by protons from the ocean accessing the Ni-(and Mo-) dosed FeS nanocrystals through the outer fougerite layer [ 9 , 42 , 44 , 56 , 190 , 191 ]. In this speculative rendition, the formate is discharged into the hydrous interlayers of fougerite, a mineral known for mediating prebiotic biochemistry-like production ( Table 1 ) [ 156 , 177 ]. To be compared to Hudson et al [ 44 ] Figures 1A, 3D and S28.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Six ‘Must-Have’ Minerals for Life’s Emergence: Olivine, Pyrrhotite, Bridgmanite, Serpentine, Fougerite and Mackinawite

Russell

Ponce

2020

Life

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Life cannot emerge on a planet or moon without the appropriate electrochemical disequilibria and the minerals that mediate energy-dissipative processes. Here, it is argued that four minerals, olivine ([Mg>Fe]2SiO4), bridgmanite ([Mg,Fe]SiO3), serpentine ([Mg,Fe,]2-3Si2O5[OH)]4), and pyrrhotite (Fe(1−x)S), are an essential requirement in planetary bodies to produce such disequilibria and, thereby, life. Yet only two minerals, fougerite ([Fe2+6xFe3+6(x−1)O12H2(7−3x)]2+·[(CO2−)·3H2O]2−) and mackinawite (Fe[Ni]S), are vital—comprising precipitate membranes—as initial “free energy” conductors and converters of such disequilibria, i.e., as the initiators of a CO2-reducing metabolism. The fact that wet and rocky bodies in the solar system much smaller than Earth or Venus do not reach the internal pressure (≥23 GPa) requirements in their mantles sufficient for producing bridgmanite and, therefore, are too reduced to stabilize and emit CO2—the staple of life—may explain the apparent absence or negligible concentrations of that gas on these bodies, and thereby serves as a constraint in the search for extraterrestrial life. The astrobiological challenge then is to search for worlds that (i) are large enough to generate internal pressures such as to produce bridgmanite or (ii) boast electron acceptors, including imported CO2, from extraterrestrial sources in their hydrospheres.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Two Minerals To Make Life Happenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Six ‘Must-Have’ Minerals for Life’s Emergence: Olivine, Pyrrhotite, Bridgmanite, Serpentine, Fougerite and Mackinawite

Russell

Ponce

2020

Life

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“…A further directive is that “(H)ypotheses for an origin of life must also propose that a cell-sized compartment is able to maintain sufficient concentrations of reactants so that metabolic reactions can be initiated.” This challenge has also been met both theoretically [ 226 , 227 ], as with recognition that “surface area available for catalytic processes exceeds that of a solid crystal by orders of magnitude”, and in experiments that show the product exceeds that to be expected of the mere surface of green rust/fougerite [ 227 , 228 , 229 , 230 , 231 , 232 ], products that include ammonium, amino acids and, perhaps, hydrazine [ 185 ].…”

Section: Avt Critiques: the False Requiemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Water Problem”(sic), the Illusory Pond and Life’s Submarine Emergence—A Review

Russell

2021

Life

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The assumption that there was a “water problem” at the emergence of life—that the Hadean Ocean was simply too wet and salty for life to have emerged in it—is here subjected to geological and experimental “reality checks”. The “warm little pond” that would take the place of the submarine alkaline vent theory (AVT), as recently extolled in the journal Nature, flies in the face of decades of geological, microbiological and evolutionary research and reasoning. To the present author, the evidence refuting the warm little pond scheme is overwhelming given the facts that (i) the early Earth was a water world, (ii) its all-enveloping ocean was never less than 4 km deep, (iii) there were no figurative “Icelands” or “Hawaiis”, nor even an “Ontong Java” then because (iv) the solidifying magma ocean beneath was still too mushy to support such salient loadings on the oceanic crust. In place of the supposed warm little pond, we offer a well-protected mineral mound precipitated at a submarine alkaline vent as life’s womb: in place of lipid membranes, we suggest peptides; we replace poisonous cyanide with ammonium and hydrazine; instead of deleterious radiation we have the appropriate life-giving redox and pH disequilibria; and in place of messy chemistry we offer the potential for life’s emergence from the simplest of geochemically available molecules and ions focused at a submarine alkaline vent in the Hadean—specifically within the nano-confined flexible and redox active interlayer walls of the mixed-valent double layer oxyhydroxide mineral, fougerite/green rust comprising much of that mound.

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Shape Evolution of Precipitate Membranes in Flow Systems

et al. 2023

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Chemical gardens are macroscopic structures that form when a salt seed is submerged in an alkaline solution. Their thin precipitate membranes separate the reactant partners and slow down the approach toward equilibrium. During this stage, a gradual thickening occurs, which is driven by steep cross-membrane gradients and governed by selective ion transport. We study these growth dynamics in microfluidic channels for the case of Ni(OH) 2 membranes. Fast flowing reactant solutions create thickening membranes of a nearly constant width along the channel, whereas slow flows produce wedge-shaped structures that fail to grow along their downstream end. The overall dynamics and shapes are caused by the competition of reactant consumption and transport replenishment. They are reproduced quantitatively by a two-variable reaction−diffusion−advection model which provides kinetic insights into the growth of precipitate membranes.

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Three-Dimensional Analysis of a Simulated Prebiotic Hydrothermal Chimney

Cited by 17 publications

References 40 publications

Six ‘Must-Have’ Minerals for Life’s Emergence: Olivine, Pyrrhotite, Bridgmanite, Serpentine, Fougerite and Mackinawite

Six ‘Must-Have’ Minerals for Life’s Emergence: Olivine, Pyrrhotite, Bridgmanite, Serpentine, Fougerite and Mackinawite

The “Water Problem”(sic), the Illusory Pond and Life’s Submarine Emergence—A Review

Shape Evolution of Precipitate Membranes in Flow Systems

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