Definition
Hydrothermal environments are places where hot water comes into contact with mineral surfaces.
History
Perhaps the first specific proposal (aside from Darwin’s offhand reference to a warm little pond (Calvin 1961), which is in some ways a hydrothermal model) for the involvement of hydrothermal environments in the origin of life was that of Harvey in 1924 (Harvey 1924), who suggested that terrestrial thermal springs such as those found in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming might have been ideal sites for chemical evolution. The idea was resurrected after the 1979 discovery of black smoker submarine hydrothermal sites associated with mid-ocean spreading centers (Corliss et al. 1981). Since its modern resurrection, a wealth of theoretical and experimental studies have examined the idea from various perspectives; nevertheless, the idea remains contentious.
Overview
The resurgence of the hydrothermal model in the late 1970s offered a counterpoint to the long-prevalent...
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References and Further Reading
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Matsuno, K., Imai, E. (2015). Hydrothermal Vent Origin of Life Models. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_761
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