Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Günter Wächtershäuser (born 1938 in Gießen) is a German chemist turned patent lawyer who is widely known for his work on the origin of life, and in particular his iron-sulfur world theory, a theory that life on Earth has hydrothermal origins.
Russell is the originator of the theory that life emerged at alkaline submarine hydrothermal vents. Russell's theory is that hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and methane, released from submarine alkaline hydrothermal vents, acted upon nitrate, ferrous and ferric iron, carbon dioxide, and protons in ambient ocean waters to form simple organic ...
Even if phylogenetic evidence may point to a hydrothermal vent environment for a thermophilic LUCA, this does not constitute evidence that the origin of life took place at a hydrothermal vent since mass extinctions may have removed previously existing branches of life. [14]
Beside being a hotbed for organic compounds, the newfound site in the Arctic Ocean may be rich in copper and gold deposits.
Additionally, hydrothermal vents deliver significant concentrations of other biologically important trace metals to the ocean such as Mo, which may have been important in the early chemical evolution of the Earth's oceans and to the origin of life (see "theory of hydrothermal origin of life").
The deep sea or alkaline hydrothermal vent theory posits that life began at submarine hydrothermal vents. [ 231 ] [ 232 ] William Martin and Michael Russell have suggested that life evolved in structured iron monosulphide precipitates in a seepage site hydrothermal mound at a redox, pH, and temperature gradient between sulphide-rich ...
Life flourishes around the vents - including giant tubeworms reaching lengths of 10 feet (3 meters), mussels, crabs, shrimp, fish and other organisms beautifully adapted to this extreme environment.
The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as Ga, for gigaannum) and evidence suggests that life emerged prior to 3.7 Ga. [1] [2] [3] The similarities among all known present-day species indicate that they have diverged through the ...