The Amazing Truth About The Lost City, and What It Reveals About Underwater Mountains

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The Amazing Truth About The Lost City, and What It Reveals About Underwater Mountains

By Trista - July 30, 2019

Sample hydrocarbon structure

19. Some Scientists See Hydrocarbons As Evidence For Abiogenesis

Scientists believe that abiotic generation, also known as abiogenesis, of hydrocarbons may occur at the vents of the Lost City. Some evidence suggests that hydrocarbons with low molecular weight may be synthesized at the vents, through a unique type of reaction that occurs at the basement rocks.

Scientists believe that the abiogenesis of hydrocarbons could be evidence of the abiotic generation of life, meaning life emerging from non-living matter. Hydrocarbons are an essential component of DNA, the building block of life. DNA is a molecule that is able to replicate itself, so it is possibly the smallest, most basic form of life.

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Structure of DNA

20. Other Scientists Aren’t So Sure

Some scientists think that the abiotic genesis of low-weight hydrocarbons is not necessarily evidenced for the abiotic genesis of life. There is a large leap from the generation of low-weight hydrocarbons, such as methane, and the generation of DNA molecules.

Microscopic forms of life do exist at the vents, and some of the lifeforms there do not exist anywhere else that we know of. However, there may be other ways to explain their presence, such as the genetic mutation that enable them to thrive in the extreme environment of the vents.

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Abiogenesis would require DNA to form.

21. Abiogenesis Is An Aspect Of Darwinian Evolution

Abiogenesis is the process of life deriving from non-life material. Charles Darwin was concerned primarily about where species come from and devised his theory of evolution to show that there are species that derive from common ancestors. They differentiate to adapt to their environments through the idea of “survival of the fittest,” thereby developing into the different species that we see today.

Other scientists have since taken his theory to show that life is derived from non-living matter, such as molecules that organize themselves into amino acids and DNA. To better understand this process of abiogenesis, many scientists have been studying the Lost City.

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