Did Life Originate in Mud Volcanoes?

The composition of four-billion-year-old rocks found on Greenland's coast has given scientists new insight into where life on Earth began.

Have you ever thought about, like, where life comes from, man? Well, an international collection of scientists think they might just have an answer: underwater mud volcanoes near Greenland. In a study published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say ancient rocks found on the southwestern coast of Greenland were very likely from a since-disappeared deep sea mud volcano, the likes of which littered the planet's surface four billion years ago, when the first signs of life appeared. The environment in which these volcanoes near Greenland existed would have likely been rich in amino acids, which are widely considered to be essential to any creation of life. The waters around mud volcanoes are also much cooler than water around regular volcanoes or thermal vents, making it easier for the first single-celled organisms to live and thrive. Those prehistoric waters are also believed to have been alkaline, not acidic, as some of the planet's remaining mud volcanoes, found near the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, are similarly alkaline. Overly acidic waters would have probably killed any carbon-based life, so the research team believes the mixture of conditions near what is now Greenland's coast would have been the perfect cauldron for life to proliferate in.