The waste products of serpentinisation are key to the origin of life. Page 108.
Olivine: a rock-forming mineral --
Olivine is the name of a group of rock-forming minerals that are typically found in mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks such as basalt, gabbro, dunite, diabase, and peridotite. They are usually green in color and have compositions that typically range between Mg2SiO4 and Fe2SiO4.Mafic and ultra-mafic: two of our types of igneous rocks; the other two -- intermediate, and felsic.
Serpentinite:
Serpentinite is a metamorphic rock that is mostly composed of serpentine group minerals. Serpentine group minerals antigorite, lizardite, and chrysotile are produced by the hydrous alteration of ultramafic rocks. These are igneous rocks that are composed of olivine and pyroxene (peridotite, pyroxenite).Again, water plus olivine yields serpentinite (a green, decorative rock used in construction).
The waste products of serpentinisation are key to the origin of life. Page 108.
See "Lost City," wiki. Alkaline vents generate hydrogen and methane; also ammonia and sulphide.
Thermophoresis: concentrates heavy molecules in local area.
Lost City is home to an abundance of bacteria and archaea. See also Strytan, Iceland.
The alkaline vents are NOT giving rise to new life forms. Part of the reason, buy only part of the reason, existing bacteria and archaea "hoover" (suck up) the raw ingredients.
Pages 113 to 114: great explanation.
Page 114 to page 115: author is proposing his method; others disagree, but this is one part of the book that becomes the author's dissertation, as it were.
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