Billions of lightning strikes played a vital role in life's origins on Earth

#1
C C Offline
https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/479...e_on_earth

RELEASE: Lightning strikes were just as important as meteorites in creating the perfect conditions for life to emerge on Earth, geologists say. Minerals delivered to Earth in meteorites more than 4 billion years ago have long been advocated as key ingredients for the development of life on our planet. But now researchers from the University of Leeds have established that lightning strikes were just as significant as meteorites in performing this essential function and allowing life to manifest.

They say this shows that life could develop on Earth-like planets through the same mechanism at any time if atmospheric conditions are right. The research was led by Benjamin Hess during his undergraduate studies at the University of Leeds in the School of Earth and Environment.

Mr Hess and his mentors were studying an exceptionally large and pristine sample of fulgurite, -- a rock created when lightning strikes the ground. The sample was formed when lightning struck a property in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA, in 2016, and donated to the geology department at Wheaton College nearby. The Leeds researchers were initially interested in how fulgurite is formed but were fascinated to discover in the Glen Ellyn sample a large amount of a highly unusual phosphorus mineral called schreibersite.

Phosphorus is essential to life and plays a key role in all life processes from movement to growth and reproduction. The phosphorus present on early Earth's surface was contained in minerals that cannot dissolve in water, but schreibersite can.

Mr Hess, now a PhD student at Yale University, Connecticut, USA, said: "Many have suggested that life on Earth originated in shallow surface waters, following Darwin's famous 'warm little pond' concept. Most models for how life may have formed on Earth's surface invoke meteorites which carry small amounts of schreibersite. Our work finds a relatively large amount of schreibersite in the studied fulgurite. Lightning strikes Earth frequently, implying that the phosphorus needed for the origin of life on Earth's surface does not rely solely on meteorite hits. Perhaps more importantly, this also means that the formation of life on other Earth-like planets remains possible long after meteorite impacts have become rare."

The team estimate that phosphorus minerals made by lightning strikes surpassed those from meteorites when the earth was around 3.5 billion years old, which is about the age of the earliest known micro-fossils, making lightning strikes significant in the emergence of life on the planet. Furthermore, lightning strikes are far less destructive than meteor hits, meaning they were much less likely to interfere with the delicate evolutionary pathways in which life could develop.

The research, titled Lightning strikes as a major facilitator of prebiotic phosphorus reduction on early Earth, is published today Nature Communications. The School of Earth and Environment funded the project under a scheme which enables undergraduate led research using high-end analytical facilities.

Dr Jason Harvey, Associate Professor of Geochemistry in Leeds' School of Earth and Environment, and Sandra Piazolo, Professor of Structural Geology and Tectonics in the School of Earth and Environment, mentored Mr Hess in the research project.

Dr Harvey said: "The early bombardment is a once in a solar system event. As planets reach their mass, the delivery of more phosphorus from meteors becomes negligible. Lightning, on the other hand, is not such a one-off event. If atmospheric conditions are favourable for the generation of lightning, elements essential to the formation of life can be delivered to the surface of a planet. This could mean that life could emerge on Earth-like planets at any point in time."

Professor Piazolo said: "Our exciting research opens the door to several future avenues of investigation, including search for and in-depth analysis of fresh fulgurite in Early Earth-like environment; in-depth analysis of the effect of flash heating on other minerals to recognize such features in the rock record, and further analysis of this exceptionally well-preserved fulgurite to identify the range of physical and chemical processes within. "All these studies will help up to increase our understanding of the importance of fulgurite in changing the chemical environment of Earth through time."
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#2
Syne Offline
Really? Geologists talking about the origins of life? 9_9
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#3
Magical Realist Offline
Biology's got to overlap with geology at some point unless you believe in the magical origin of life from a god.
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#4
Syne Offline
(Mar 18, 2021 08:16 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: Biology's got to overlap with geology at some point unless you believe in the magical origin of life from a god.

Only if you ascribe to the magical thinking necessary for rocks and minerals to come to life.
There's zero magical about a source of life imbuing life. That's actually how all biological life reproduces. No magical change in kind.

But morons who accept any bullshit some authority tells them can't be expected to be curious about the actual scientific merit, much less skeptical.
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#5
Magical Realist Offline
Quote:Only if you ascribe to the magical thinking necessary for rocks and minerals to come to life.

You mean as opposed to a magical invisible being who magically created living matter out of nothing? lol Yeah, I'll take the evolution of organic chemistry from inorganic chemistry any day over that.
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#6
Syne Offline
(Mar 18, 2021 11:29 PM)Magical Realist Wrote:
Quote:Only if you ascribe to the magical thinking necessary for rocks and minerals to come to life.

You mean as opposed to a magical invisible being who magically created living matter out of nothing? lol Yeah, I'll take the evolution of organic chemistry from inorganic chemistry any day over that.

Learn to read, moron. I just said "a source of life imbuing life". Hell, even if you believe in panspermia, you're accepting that much.
You're taking magical thinking on pure faith, as there's zero evidence of life from inorganic matter. It might as well be the alchemy of lead into gold or the elixir of life, for all the actual science involved. You know, science, not wild and unsubstantiated speculation. But then, you're the king of unsubstantiated UFO and ghost nonsense.
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#7
Magical Realist Offline
Quote:I just said "a source of life imbuing life".

So how did THAT happen? You're making spurious claims with no evidence. Where is this being starting life with his own life? How did he do it? Masturbating into river clay? Artificial respiration into dust? You're the one pulling magical crap out of your ass, not me. Own it!
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#8
Syne Offline
(Mar 19, 2021 02:00 AM)Magical Realist Wrote:
Quote:I just said "a source of life imbuing life".

So how did THAT happen? You're making spurious claims with no evidence. Where is this being starting life with his own life? How did he do it? Masturbating into river clay? Artificial respiration into dust?  You're the one spouting magical crap, not me. Own it!

How many ways do I have to say it? Pansmermia, normal biological reproduction. There's no evidence of the former (except that life can obviously produce more life) and tons for the latter. I really can't help you if you insist on taking religious analogies as literal claims. That's on you. I don't believe in, how did you say, "a magical invisible being". But I also don't believe in life from rocks nonsense.
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#9
Magical Realist Offline
(Mar 19, 2021 02:29 AM)Syne Wrote:
(Mar 19, 2021 02:00 AM)Magical Realist Wrote:
Quote:I just said "a source of life imbuing life".

So how did THAT happen? You're making spurious claims with no evidence. Where is this being starting life with his own life? How did he do it? Masturbating into river clay? Artificial respiration into dust?  You're the one spouting magical crap, not me. Own it!

How many ways do I have to say it? Pansmermia, normal biological reproduction. There's no evidence of the former (except that life can obviously produce more life) and tons for the latter. I really can't help you if you insist on taking religious analogies as literal claims. That's on you. I don't believe in, how did you say, "a magical invisible being". But I also don't believe in life from rocks nonsense.

So you can't provide any agent (yes a literal one) that performed this act of reproduction? I mean it'd have to be around 3 billion years ago. Where is this agent now? Masturbating on other planets? LOL It's clear you have no idea how your own explanation is even feasible. You are simply invoking a greater mystery to explain a mystery. A God of the gaps. How pathetic.
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#10
Syne Offline
(Mar 19, 2021 02:46 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: So you can't provide any agent (yes a literal one) that performed this act of reproduction? I mean it'd have to be around 3 billion years ago. Where is this agent now? Masturbating on other planets? LOL It's clear you have no idea how your own explanation is even feasible. You are simply invoking a greater mystery to explain a mystery. A God of the gaps. How pathetic.

That's really rich coming from a guy touting science-of-the-gaps, where your faith alone bridges the vast gaps between speculation and the complete lack of actual evidence. See, there's a difference in the claims we are making. You are making a claim that presupposes evidence is available, but you still have zero evidence. I'm making a claim I readily admit has no evidence, but relies on the simple notion that alchemy from one thing to something of completely different qualities and characteristics doesn't exist without evidence. IOW, the null hypothesis is that life comes from life, and we have examples of this every day. Anything else requires evidence. Otherwise, you're not talking about science, you're talking about science fiction.

Don't like it? Quit making unsubstantiated claims with the pretense that they are in any way grounded in science. Without evidence, they are wishful thinking, at best. Mine is the only thing actually backed by all known science. We have countless examples of life from life, and zero examples of life from non-life. I get how that must upset you so much.
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