Ancient source of oxygen for life hidden deep in the Earth's crust NatureComms
, and feasibly even origin, of life in hot environments on the early Earth prior to the evolution of photosynthesis.
In the laboratory, Masters student Jordan Stone simulated these conditions by crushing granite, basalt and peridotite—rock types that would have been present in the early Earth's crust. These were then added to water under well controlled oxygen-free conditions at varying temperatures. The experiments demonstrated that substantial amounts of hydrogen peroxide—and as a result, potentially oxygen—was only generated at temperatures close to the boiling point of water. Importantly, the temperature of hydrogen peroxide formation overlaps the growth ranges of some of the most heat-loving microbes on Earth called hyperthermophiles, including evolutionary ancient oxygen-using microbes near the root of the Universal Tree of Life.
Principal Investigator Dr. Jon Telling, Senior Lecturer, added:"This research shows that defects on crushed rock and minerals can behave very differently to how you would expect more 'perfect' mineral surfaces to react.
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