Hot springs served as catalyst for life on Earth billions of years ago, study finds

Life on Earth might have originated from hot springs billions of years ago.

According to a study published in the journalNature Communications Earth & Environment, key molecules required to produce life consist of inorganic materials, essential to understanding the formation of the first living systems on our planet.

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Researchers at Newcastle University studied how the earliest life on Earth emerged from inert geological materials more than 3.5 billion years ago. They mixed hydrogen, bicarbonate and iron-rich magnetite under conditions resembling hot springs or mild hydrothermal vents. The reaction produced a spectrum of organic molecules, notably fatty acids up to 18 carbon atoms in length.

The study, funded by the United Kingdom's Natural Environmental Research Council, highlights how organic molecules needed to create life come from inorganic molecules.

Lead author Dr Graham Purvis said, "Central to life's inception are cellular compartments, crucial for isolating internal chemistry from the external environment. These compartments were instrumental in fostering life-sustaining reactions by concentrating chemicals and facilitating energy production, potentially serving as the cornerstone of life's earliest moments."

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According to the study, fatty acids (long organic molecules) might have formed in hydrothermal vents after hot water containing hydrogen-rich fluids from underwater vents combined with seawater infused with carbon dioxide.

The results show that the combination of hydrogen-rich fluids from alkaline hydrothermal vents with bicarbonate-rich water on iron-based minerals formed the primal membranes of early cells at the very beginning of life.

This reaction might have given rise to various types of membranes, some of which played a crucial part in the primary stages of the formation of life on Earth. The study also suggests that the process might have contributed to the genesis of specific acids in the elemental composition of meteorites.

Principal Investigator Dr Jon Telling of the School of Natural Environmental Sciences said, "We think that this research may provide the first step in how life originated on our planet. Research in our laboratory now continues determining the second crucial step; how these organic molecules which are initially 'stuck' to the mineral surfaces can lift off to form spherical membrane-bounded cell-like compartments; the first potential 'protocells' that went on to create the first cellular life."

Furthermore, the researchers also suggest that similar processes might be occurring in the oceans or under the surfaces of icy moons in our solar systems. It also increases the probability of alternative life origins in distant worlds.

(With inputs from agencies)