The movement of molten rocks through narrow fissures within volcanoes might have created an ideal setting for the formation of essential components for life on Earth.
The transfer of heat through these channels could have led to the refinement of molecules from intricate mixtures of substances, potentially giving rise to specific chemicals crucial for the development of life, as outlined in a recent publication.
These vital chemicals, known as biopolymers, have long puzzled scientists regarding their origin and formation process.
Stock images depicting a volcano in Iceland (main image) and amino acids (inset) suggest that some of the fundamental building blocks of life could have emerged from the minute crevices in volcanic rocks.
In the past, replicating the conditions of early Earth to investigate the synthesis of these biopolymers posed challenges due to the simultaneous generation of various by-products and the complexity of isolating the desired molecules. However, the latest study details the utilization of specially designed chambers with tiny crevices to segregate and refine these molecules, mirroring the conditions present in ancient rocks.
The researchers describe the construction of chambers inspired by natural formations, each containing cracks as narrow as 170 micrometers. These crevices facilitated the separation of more than 50 molecules crucial to prebiotic life, ranging from amino acids to nucleotides.
The authors of the study noted, “Here we show that heat flowing through thin, crack-like geological compartments could have acted as a prevalent yet selective mechanism, isolating over 50 prebiotically significant building blocks from complex mixtures of amino acids, nucleobases, nucleotides, polyphosphates, and 2-aminoazoles.”
Through measured thermophoretic properties, the researchers simulated and demonstrated the beneficial effects of interconnected geological crack networks in purifying the previously mixed compounds, enhancing their concentration ratios significantly.
Furthermore, they observed that this filtration mechanism was driven by a temperature gradient across the cracks, leading to substantial increases in the concentration of specific molecules such as 2-aminozoles and amino acids by factors of 10 and three orders of magnitude, respectively.
By expanding the crack network, these concentrations could be further amplified. Additionally, the cracks were found to facilitate the reaction of two glycine molecules, a crucial step in the synthesis of peptides essential for protein formation, due to heightened molecule concentrations.
Considering the prevalence of such cracks on early Earth, the researchers propose that these geological features may have played a pivotal role in the genesis of life’s fundamental chemical components.
“Interconnected thin fractures and cracks or similar permeable pathways are believed to be widespread in volcanic and geothermal settings. When connected to the surface, these systems could potentially supply isolated ponds or pools, the significance of which in the origin of life has been extensively studied,” they highlighted.
“Given the abundance of heat flows and rock fractures, the demonstrated effectiveness even with small prebiotic compounds, and the overall resilience of the process, thermophoretic enrichment of organic substances could have served as a consistent driving force for a natural laboratory for the origins of life,” the researchers concluded.
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