Australian Centre for Astrobiology, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Sydney, Kensington, Australia.
Pheasant Memorial Laboratory, Institute for Planetary Materials, Okayama University, Misasa, Japan.
Astrobiology. 2021 Jan;21(1):39-59. doi: 10.1089/ast.2019.2107.
For decades, deep sea hydrothermal vents have been a preferred setting for the Origin of Life, but "The Water Problem" as relates to polymerization of organic molecules, together with a propensity to dilute critical prebiotic elements as well as a number of other crucial factors, suggests that a terrestrial hot spring field with the capacity for wetdry cycling and element concentration may represent a more likely candidate. Here, we investigate a 3.5 billion-year-old, anoxic hot spring setting from the Pilbara Craton (Australia) and show that its hydrothermal veins and compositionally varied pools and springs concentrated all of the essential elements required for prebiotic chemistry (including B, Zn, Mn, and K, in addition to C, H, N, O, P, and S). Temporal variability (seasonal to decadal), together with the known propensity of hot springs for wetdry cycling and information exchange, would lead to innovation pools with peaks of fitness for developing molecules. An inference from the chemical complexity of the Pilbara analogue is that life could perhaps get started quickly on planets with volcanoes, silicate rocks, an exposed land surface, and water, ingredients that should form the backbone in the search for life in the Universe.
几十年来，深海热液喷口一直是生命起源的首选场所，但与有机分子聚合有关的“水问题”，以及使关键的前生物元素稀释的倾向，以及许多其他关键因素表明，具有干湿循环和元素浓缩能力的陆地温泉场可能是更有可能的候选场所。在这里，我们研究了来自皮尔巴拉克拉通（澳大利亚）的 35 亿年前的缺氧温泉环境，并表明其热液脉、成分多样的池塘和泉水浓缩了所有前生物化学所需的基本元素（除了 C、H、N、O、P 和 S 之外，还包括 B、Zn、Mn 和 K）。时间变化（季节性到十年性），以及温泉干湿循环和信息交换的已知倾向，将导致具有适合发展分子的适应性峰值的创新池。从皮尔巴拉类似物的化学复杂性推断，在有火山、硅酸盐岩石、暴露的陆地表面和水的行星上，生命可能很快就会开始，这些成分应该构成在宇宙中寻找生命的核心。
