Could life on Earth have started at hydrothermal vents?

The answer

Hydrothermal vents, discovered in 1977 near the Galapagos Rift, expel mineral-rich water at temperatures up to 400°C. The alkaline vent hypothesis, championed by geochemist Michael Russell, proposes that life originated at these sites around 3.8 billion years ago. Vents create natural proton gradients across mineral walls - similar to how modern cells generate energy. They concentrate organic molecules and provide catalytic iron-sulfur minerals resembling enzymes in ancient metabolic pathways. In 2016, researchers at University College London recreated vent conditions and produced protocell-like structures. The Lost City hydrothermal field, discovered in 2000 at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, provides a modern analog for these life-originating conditions.