Canadian lakes offer insights into life's beginnings
Around four billion years ago, as life first emerged on Earth, the environment likely resembled a barren volcanic landscape devoid of flora and fauna, rather than being predominantly oceanic. A study published in the journal Nature suggests Last Chance Lake, a saline water body on volcanic rock in British Columbia, Canada, indicates carbonate-rich ancient lakes as potential origins of life.
Life's building blocks
David Catling, co-author of the study and a geosciences professor at the University of Washington, commented, "We investigated the particular conditions necessary for synthesizing life's building blocks in natural settings. We believe we've identified a highly promising location for life's origins." The researchers focused on studying the lake following an unpublished thesis from the 1990s, which documented elevated phosphate levels in the area.
Primordial life
Located within a volcanic plateau in British Columbia, Last Chance Lake offers scientists a unique and valuable insight into what primordial Earth may have looked like. Despite its shallow depth, merely a foot deep, this lake holds an unparalleled distinction in the natural world: its most concentrated levels of phosphate ever recorded in a body of water on Earth.
Integral to life
Phosphate's presence in such high concentrations suggests an environment rich in the essential elements necessary for life's emergence and evolution. It is a cornerstone of biological chemistry, serving as the carrier of phosphorus, an integral part of essential biological molecules like RNA, DNA, and ATP, which are indispensable for the functioning and energy metabolism of all living organisms.
Role of comets
Scientists continue to unravel the mystery of life's origins, acknowledging the early presence of essential ingredients on Earth. A recent study proposes comets as potential contributors, delivering crucial elements like phosphorus billions of years ago. This hypothesis underscores the significant role of celestial phenomena in seeding our planet with the building blocks necessary for life, offering new insights into our cosmic ancestry.
Spacecraft mission
To trace how the phosporus arrived on Earth, scientists utilized two powerful tools: the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft. Rosetta, equipped with the ROSINA instrument (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis), identified phosphorus within a haze surrounding the comet. This discovery provided crucial insights into the cosmic mechanisms delivering essential elements to Earth.
