2016/01/01 by Marìa Colín-García · 72 citations
Engineering · Chemistry · #Space Exploration and Technology #Hydrothermal vent #Prebiotic #Astrobiology #Chemistry #Abiogenesis #Hydrothermal circulation #Chemical engineering #Engineering #Physics #Food science
paper · pdf · doi:10.18268/bsgm2016v68n3a13
published in Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana 68(3), 599-620 (Sociedad Geológica Mexicana)
openalex publication_date 2016/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
A hydrothermal system is an environment where there is a flow of hot fluids beneath and up to the surface of the Earth. Hydrothermal vents are systems whose heat source is the underlying magma or hot water generated by convection currents due to high thermal gradients. Hydrothermal fossil deposits have also been recognized in impact craters. Besides Earth, the other place in the Solar System that shows evidence of past impact-induced hydrothermal systems is Mars. The circulation of hydrothermal solutions and interaction with country rocks leads to the precipitation of different mineral phases. In fact, hydrothermal vents, due to their characteristics (redox potential, abundance of organic matter and the presence of certain minerals), have been proposed as places where chemical evolution could have occurred. In this article, a review of hydrothermal environments (submarine, subaerial and impact-induced) and their advantages and disadvantages as primitive environments is presented. Thus far, the synthesis of organic compounds in simulation experiments has been achieved, although the role of prebiotic processes in these environments is still ill-defined. The conditions accompanying white vents are perhaps the best suited for the synthesis of organic molecules; however, this synthesis could have also occurred around black vents, where favorable temperature gradients are present.