Ancient Source of Oxygen for Life Discovered Hidden Deep in the Earth’s Crust



Researchers have discovered an oxygen source that could have had an impact on the development of life before photosynthesis.

Researchers at Newcastle University have identified an oxygen source located deep inside the Earth's crust that may have had an impact on the development of life before photosynthesis.

The ground-breaking study discovered a mechanism that allows rocks to produce hydrogen peroxide when geological faults shift. The research, which was conducted by Newcastle University's School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, was released in the journal Nature Communications today, August 8.

While hydrogen peroxide may be damaging to life at large quantities, microorganisms can benefit from it by using it as a source of oxygen. Before the development of photosynthesis, this extra supply of oxygen may have affected the early evolution of life in hot settings on the early Earth, and perhaps even its inception.

Using vials in the lab, researchers were able to replicate some of the essential elements of subsurface rock fracture. Oceanic and continental crust-representative rocks were crushed in nitrogen, added to oxygen-free water, and then heated. Jordan Stone, Jon Telling, and Newcastle University are to be credited.

The shifting of the Earth's crust in tectonically active areas not only causes earthquakes, but also leaves the subsurface laced with fissures and fractures. These are surrounded by highly reactive rock surfaces with many flaws or faults. The flaws on the newly split rock can then trickle down and interact with the water.

By crushing granite, basalt, and peridotite—rock types that would have been present in the early Earth's crust—in the lab, master's student Jordan Stone replicated these circumstances. Then, under carefully regulated, oxygen-free circumstances, they were introduced to water at various temperatures.

The study looks at a source of reactive oxygen connected to geological faulting, which might be a source of oxygen before cyanobacteria oxygenate the atmosphere. This reactive oxygen may have contributed to primordial chemistry in subsurface cracks prior to the genesis of life and may have played a part in the development of life from an oxygen-free to an oxygenated environment. Jordan Stone, Jon Telling, and Newcastle University are to be credited.

According to the results of the research, significant volumes of hydrogen peroxide - and thus, perhaps oxygen - were only produced at temperatures just below the boiling point of water. Importantly, the temperature at which hydrogen peroxide is formed matches the development ranges of some of the Earth's most heat-loving bacteria, known as hyperthermophiles, including oxygen-using ancient evolutionary microbes close to the base of the Universal Tree of Life.

This is the first study to demonstrate the critical significance of hot temperatures in maximizing hydrogen peroxide generation, according to lead author Jordan Stone, who carried out this investigation as part of his Master of Research in Environmental Geoscience. Previous research has suggested that small amounts of hydrogen peroxide and other oxidants can be formed by stressing or crushing rocks in the absence of oxygen.

Setting up one of the experiments was done by the study's lead author, Jordan Stone, as part of his MRes in Environmental Geoscience at Newcastle University in the UK. Jordan Stone, Jon Telling, and Newcastle University are to be credited.

Dr. Jon Telling, Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator, said, "This research demonstrates that imperfections on crushed rock and minerals can behave very differently from how you would anticipate more "perfect" mineral surfaces to respond. Water, crushed rocks, and high temperatures are all the ingredients that these mechanochemical reactions require to produce hydrogen peroxide and subsequently oxygen. These ingredients were all present on the early Earth before photosynthesis evolved and may have influenced the chemistry and microbiology in the hot, seismically active regions where life may have first originated.

The investigation was funded by funding from the UK Space Agency and the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC). To ascertain the relevance of this method for sustaining life in the Earth's deep, a significant new follow-up research directed by Dr. Jon Telling and financed by NERC is currently under way.

By NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY 

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