Earth's Early Ocean Was Not Boiling Hot.

I read this today and thought it may be of interest to some members.

Live Science reports a new geological study conducted by Professor Maarten de Wit, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa.

Earth's first oceans were no primordial soup. Rocks from the deep past, some 3.5 billion years ago when life first appeared on the planet, were deposited on a deep, cold ocean floor, not in a scalding sea, a new study suggests.

"This is the first evidence that over the entire 3.5 billion years, Earth has operated within a temperature range that suits life," said lead study author Maarten de Wit, a professor at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

To take the temperature of Earth's ancient ocean, the researchers trekked to the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The Barberton mountains are made of rocks that were once a fragment of ocean floor. They formed billions of years ago, about the same time as life first appeared on Earth. [In Photos: Watery Ocean Hidden Beneath Earth's Surface]

The rocks record the levels of oxygen isotopes present in the ancient ocean. (Isotopes are atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons.) The levels of different oxygen isotopes in ocean water change with the temperature, so measuring isotopes can reveal whether the water was hot or cold when the rocks formed.

Previous studies of the same Barberton rocks found the ancient ocean temperature was between 130 and 185 degrees Fahrenheit (55 and 85 degrees Celsius) — similar to the colorful hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, de Wit said.

However, in the new study, de Wit and co-author Harald Furnes, of the University of Bergen in Norway, show that these earlier results were skewed because some of the rocks were actually part of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. In the modern ocean, deep-sea vents spew boiling, mineral-rich water that supports colonies of strange sea life, like pink tubeworms.

"The cold conditions we have shown from this amazing, unique set of rock records preserved in South Africa indicate that ever since we have records of life on the planet, Earth has been predominantly in a Goldilocks state — not too hot as previously suggested, and not too cold to eliminate life," de Wit said.

Earth's Early Ocean Was No Scalding Sea

The study

A quick search shows both Maarten de Wit and the co-author Harald Furnes, University of Bergen, Norway as legitimate scientists with many research papers.

What a fantastic discovery!

Hopefully, in-time, we'll be able to find more evidence to verify these claims even further. This new information will have a tremendous impact on our hypotheses within Abiogenesis.

Thanks for the link

Oh oh, they took away the primordial soup, lol.

Another fantasy bites the dust.

Oh wow. So many things yet to discover!

Oh wow. So many things yet to discover!

a reply to: Ghost147

Really interesting, does this mean that the theory of panspermia is "dead"

I like the opening scenes from Ridley Scotts Prometheus; where the creator race "alien" drinks a living crystal looking gel, his body breaks up and his genetic material breaks and is reconstituted by the ocean, forming division of cells.

I honestly think all scenarios are feasible in propagating life, some planets may have been seeded by space faring genetisists, some by meteors some from inorganic matter. The purpose of life is life

Its all good - when the time comes for our civilization to colonize other far off worlds I guess we would carry "zygotes" proteins, aminos, unfertilized ova, dna, human tissue, cryogenically humans (if practical) in the cargo bays of such seeders; to increase the chance of success and adaptation to not so perfect exoplanet

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: Ghost147

Really interesting, does this mean that the theory of panspermia is "dead"

Not necessarily.

The findings in the OP just help support that the temperature on Earth for life to rise was more more livable than previously thought. It doesn't directly state anything about abiogenesis specifically, but just that the conditions may be more feasible.

So Ridley Scott's depiction could be valid, until the whole concept of the aliens to build a Humanoid race comes in to play because it took billions of years of evolution and chance to eventually become what we are today.

His theory would be more accurate if their purpose wasn't to intend to make the human race, but to simply just "give life" to Earth.

a reply to: TinfoilTP

they took away the primordial soup, lol

No they didnt...re-read carefully...dont burn your tongue on the hot soup, let it cool before slurping..and take that tin foil hat off!...hehe

a reply to: Ghost147

until the whole concept of the aliens to build a Humanoid race comes in to play because it took billions of years of evolution and chance to eventually become what we are today.

So its not plausible to start the chain of DNA transforming and cell division within a few generations?

How does that not fit in with what scientists are doing in triggering Gene therapy and having results in months? Or growing skin in a lab, absent from the donor?

Dont be too hard on me...I like my aliens as scientists/creator gods better than slow moving "billions of years", I wont even get into a discussion on "chance"

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: Ghost147
So its not plausible to start the chain of DNA transforming and cell division within a few generations?

That would be highly unlikely, at least within a few generations. RNA is the predecessor to DNA as it is, and the transition from RNA to DNA was likely quite long.

I was just saying that it isn't totally unreasonable (yet) that aliens could have kickstarted life on Earth. The method of how that is possible is still greatly up to debate.

Pushing the boundaries guys, pushing it way to hard..

a reply to: Ghost147


When the conditions of life, result in life like us consciously.

The next question becomes what is death.

originally posted by: Kashai
a reply to: Ghost147


When the conditions of life, result in life like us consciously.

The next question becomes what is death

I don't understand the point and questions you're trying to make. Could you reword/punctuate them?

From my personal Christian view. I believe the original earth to be older than what many Christians say. I believe the original earth had not water on it. Water later came upon the earth When God's judgement came upon a being and his followers when he rebelled against God on this earth. that is where Genesis 1:2 starts and everything after that second verse is how everything today is as it is.

But hey, I am just an ignorant fool and that is MHO.

Yes I do have verses from the Bible for my belief.

I hope I have not derailed the thread.

a reply to: Ghost147


Just pointing out something in relation to the human condition.

originally posted by: Kashai
a reply to: Ghost147
Just pointing out something in relation to the human condition.

I don't understand what the origin of life has to do with consciousness though. Your sentence was just oddly typed, perhaps I missed the point.

a reply to: Ghost147


In so far as mankind's origins it has everything to do with how life originated in so far as mankind is able to determine.

Actually the other Avatar is way cooler.

originally posted by: Kashai
a reply to: Ghost147
In so far as mankind's origins it has everything to do with how life originated in so far as mankind is able to determine.

Except consciousness only really occurred millions of years after the onset of life itself. What occurs to life once life exists doesn't really have an effect on how it began.

originally posted by: Kashai
a reply to: Ghost147
Actually the other Avatar is way cooler.

Lol, this is my original one. Some members didn't recognize me with the last

a reply to: Ghost147

Lol, this is my original one.

And wonderfully hideous.

The rectilinear crudite on the menu is particularly disconcerting. Live food?

a reply to: Ghost147

How have we established that consciousness happened millions of years ago when life began?