Marine Hydrothermal Systems and the Origin of Life : Report of SCOR Working Group 91

Research of the origins of life in connection with a marine environment started at the end of the seventies, when the `black smokers' in the Pacific were discovered and the Red Sea deep hydrothermal brines were found to be a fruitful environment for abiotic synthesis of life precursors. For a while this research was categorised under the heading `chemistry', but in less than a decade the topic became fully integrated into the science of 'oceanography'. The Scientific Committee on Oceanographic Research (SCOR) initiated Working Group 91: Chemical Evolution and Origin of Life in Marine Hydrothermal Systems'. This volume contains the final report of this working group. Front Matter....Pages i-3 Why are Hydrothermal Systems Proposed as Plausible Environments for the Origin of Life?....Pages 5-14 Hydrothermal Systems: Their Varieties, Dynamics, and Suitability for Prebiotic Chemistry....Pages 15-31 Modern Life at High Temperatures....Pages 33-42 Aqueous Organic Geochemistry at High Temperature/High Pressure....Pages 43-65 Chemical Environments of Submarine Hydrothermal Systems....Pages 67-107 Chemical Markers of Prebiotic Chemistry in Hydrothermal Systems....Pages 109-134 Hydrothermal Organic Synthesis Experiments....Pages 135-146 An Experimental Approach to Chemical Evolution in Submarine Hydrothermal Systems....Pages 147-159 Mineral Theories of the Origin of Life and an Iron Sulfide Example....Pages 161-180 Future Research....Pages 181-190 Back Matter....Pages 191-250