Mineral self-organization on a lifeless planet

Autor: Juan Manuel García-Ruiz, Mark A. van Zuilen, Wolfgang Bach
Přispěvatelé: aboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-IPG PARIS-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP), Geoscience Department and MARUM, University of Bremen, European Commission, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Garcia Ruiz, Juan Manuel
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Physics of Life Reviews
Physics of Life Reviews, Elsevier, 2020, 34-35 (62-82), pp.62-82. ⟨10.1016/j.plrev.2020.01.001⟩
ISSN: 1571-0645
1873-1457
Popis: It has been experimentally demonstrated that, under alkaline conditions, silica is able to induce the formation of mineral self-assembled inorganic-inorganic composite materials similar in morphology, texture and nanostructure to the hybrid biomineral structures that, millions of years later, life was able to self-organize. These mineral self-organized structures (MISOS) have been also shown to work as effective catalysts for prebiotic chemical reactions and to easily create compartmentalization within the solutions where they form. We reason that, during the very earliest history of this planet, there was a geochemical scenario that inevitably led to the existence of a large-scale factory of simple and complex organic compounds, many of which were relevant to prebiotic chemistry. The factory was built on a silica-rich high-pH ocean and powered by two main factors: a) a quasi-infinite source of simple carbon molecules synthesized abiotically from reactions associated with serpentinization, or transported from meteorites and produced from their impact on that alkaline ocean, and b) the formation of self-organized silica-metal mineral composites that catalyze the condensation of simple molecules in a methane-rich reduced atmosphere. We discuss the plausibility of this geochemical scenario, review the details of the formation of MISOS and its catalytic properties and the transition towards a slightly alkaline to neutral ocean
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Seven Framework Programe grant agreement n° 340863 , and under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program grant agreement n° 646894 . JMG-R also acknowledges the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain for funding the project CGL2016-78971-P . We acknowledge Lucas Chacón for the artist view of Fig. 6 . This is IPGP contribution n° 4108.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: