Minerals and the Origin of Life

Since ancient times, philosophers and scientists have sought to unravel the origins of life on Earth. The identification of the environment, of the natural physicochemical conditions, and how the primitive forms of life emerged and evolved still remains to be discovered. The chapter, based on the available scientific literature, identifies and discusses five main prevailing hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth based on more or less elaborated data: extraterrestrial or panspermia hypothesis (with origin and transport in meteorites and comets); clay hypothesis; submarine volcanic chimney or vent hypothesis; terrestrial hot spring hypothesis; and serpentinization hypothesis. In all the hypotheses referred to minerals, clay minerals and metal sulfide minerals in particular would have played decisive roles. As a matter of fact, minerals represent challenging substrates for life, since they are sources of nutrients and energy for prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), single-celled organisms, to appear and evolve. The chapter ends mentioning that research goes on and expectations are high regarding the better understanding of the origin of both the solar system and life on Earth. Scientists hope to get relevant information from the very recent sample collected on the carbon-rich rocky Bennu asteroid by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe.