It is one of the great questions of science: how did life start from inert matter? What ignited the spark? A team from University College London (UCL) points to hydrothermal vents in the seabed, phenomena normally located in volcanically active areas of the planet.
According to their study, published in Chemical Communications, very elemental compounds of organic chemistry, such as methanol and formic acid, can be formed naturally in these fumaroles from the CO2 dissolved in the water.
It is explained by Nora de Leeuw, director of the team: "our research proves that hydrothermal vents have the chemical properties necessary for organic molecules from CO2 to recombine and form molecules associated with living organisms." The hot and turbulent water from the fumaroles would provide the necessary energy in the process.
The chemists simulated the conditions of these peculiar ecosystems with laboratory experiments and computer models processed on the British Legion and HECToR supercomputers. In this way they were able to recreate what happened when Greekite (a mineral formed mainly by iron sulfide and which is abundant on the surface of fumaroles) interacted with CO2 in warm and slightly alkaline ocean water.
The formation of simple organic substances in these underwater factories would have given way to more sophisticated compounds capable of self-replication, the first step towards life on land.
Image: Wiki Commons
