Strange Structures Surrounding Hydrothermal Vents Deep Under the Ocean May Help Explain the Origin of Life.
A study led by Dr. Ryuhei Nakamura from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) and the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan) has discovered mysterious inorganic nano-structures described as “life-like.”
The article published in the journal Nature Communications explains that seawater penetrates deep into the Earth through cracks on the ocean floor, where it is heated, rises to the surface, and is released back into the ocean through openings called hydrothermal vents.
Environment around the hydrothermal system at the ocean floor – (Photo: SCITECH DAILY).
Hot water rising from these vents contains dissolved minerals from deep within the planet, and when it encounters cooler seawater, chemical reactions push mineral ions out of the water, where they form solid structures around the vent known as precipitates.
Hydrothermal vents are believed to be the birthplace of life on Earth because they provide the necessary conditions: stability, mineral richness, and energy sources.
The authors studied hydrothermal vents containing serpentinite because they are surrounded by complex layered precipitate structures formed from metal oxides, hydroxides, and carbonates.
Samples were collected from the Shinkai Seep Field, located in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of 5,743 meters.
Surprisingly, they identified the presence of energy conversion processes, a critical function in modern life, in the nano-structures surrounding these hydrothermal vents.
In other words, the nano-structures around these hydrothermal vents mimic how living organisms generate energy to survive, representing a primitive form of “nutrition.”
Thus, this discovery suggests a way that life may have begun from inorganic elements, around hydrothermal vents billions of years ago.
These nano-structures self-organize and act as selective ion channels, generating energy that can be harnessed in the form of electricity.
This discovery not only has the potential to impact our understanding of the origin of life but could also be applied to the development of industrial green energy sources.
