Origin of life's building blocks in Carbon and Nitrogen rich surface hydrothermal vents
Paul B Rimmer, Oliver Shorttle
TL;DR
This paper proposes that surface hydrothermal vents, rich in carbon and nitrogen, could have produced key prebiotic molecules in abundance, offering a plausible environment for life's origins that combines features of submarine and subaerial scenarios.
Contribution
It introduces a model showing how surface hydrothermal vents can generate essential prebiotic feedstock molecules, bridging previous theories of life's emergence.
Findings
High concentrations of prebiotic molecules like hydrogen cyanide and acetylene can form in vent waters.
Cyanamide is not produced in significant amounts, implying external delivery or alternative synthesis.
Surface hydrothermal vents are a plausible environment for prebiotic chemistry on early planets.
Abstract
There are two dominant and contrasting classes of origin of life scenarios: those predicting that life emerged in submarine hydrothermal systems, where chemical disequilibrium can provide an energy source for nascent life; and those predicting that life emerged within subaerial environments, where UV catalysis of reactions may occur to form the building blocks of life. Here, we describe a prebiotically plausible environment that draws on the strengths of both scenarios: surface hydrothermal vents. We show how key feedstock molecules for prebiotic chemistry can be produced in abundance in shallow and surficial hydrothermal systems. We calculate the chemistry of volcanic gases feeding these vents over a range of pressures and basalt C/N/O contents. If ultra-reducing carbon-rich nitrogen-rich gases interact with subsurface water at a volcanic vent they result in 1 mM to 1 M concentrations…
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