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Exploring habitability with artificial hydrothermal vents

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 2, page 590 (2021)Cite this article

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Marine hydrothermal vents are fissures in the ocean floor that typically discharge hot, chemically altered fluids into seawater to precipitate mounds that can be as tall as several meters. Since their discovery in the 1970’s, hydrothermal vents have transformed research on the origin and evolution of life. These ancient systems provide a unique environment suitable for the abiotic synthesis of reduced organic compounds relevant to biological activity. Efforts to study hydrothermal systems often require direct sampling of vent fluids and precipitates. However, vent fields are often home to diverse, fragile ecosystems, and numerous hydrothermal fields are legally protected. Therefore, hydrothermal vent studies are often limited by accessibility and conservation interventions. Additionally, laboratory-based chimney growth experiments are often inadequate in simulating the complex biogeochemistry of their natural systems.

In the future, manipulating the chemistry of natural vent analogues could also enable investigations of habitability in early Earth and extraterrestrial hydrothermal systems. Iron catalysis, for example, is potentially important in the abiotic synthesis of organic compounds on Earth billions of years ago. Conducting iron amendment experiments using IGCs can shed light on the role of iron during the onset of life. Thus, IGCs provide an unparalleled opportunity to advance our understanding of the potential geological and prebiotic chemistry of early Earth and other planetary bodies, wherever aquatic chemical gradients exist.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research is provided from the NASA Habitable Worlds Program, grant #80NSSC20K0228, to principal investigator R. Price, Stony Brook University. Special thanks to E. Bogason from Strytan Dive Center and L. Barge from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for their valuable insight and help in constructing our IGC experiments.

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  1. School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, USA

    Arlaine M. Sanchez

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  1. Arlaine M. Sanchez
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Correspondence to Arlaine M. Sanchez.

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Sanchez, A.M. Exploring habitability with artificial hydrothermal vents. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 590 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00206-3

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