Zircon study prompts redox state rethink surrounding hydrothermal pools thought to harbour life’s first molecules
Research combining experiments with modelling suggests hydrothermal fluid was 30% as saline as sea water today and more oxidised than the surrounding mantle
Researchers in the US have used the chemistry of four billion-year-old zircons to infer that the hydrothermal fluid from pools that may have incubated the first life on Earth was more oxidised than previously thought. The findings deepen our understanding of the chemicals available for prebiotic synthesis on Earth, and could aid the study of other planets too.