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Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Simulation of Early Earth Hydrothermal Chimneys in a Thermal Gradient Environment
Published on: February 27, 2021
Radiolytically reworked Archean organic matter in a habitable deep ancient high-temperature brine
Devan M Nisson1, Clifford C Walters2, Martha L Chacón-Patiño3
1Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA. dnisson@princeton.edu.
Abstract:
Investigations of abiotic and biotic contributions to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are required to constrain microbial habitability in continental subsurface fluids. Here we investigate a large (101-283 mg C/L) DOC pool in an ancient (>1Ga), high temperature (45-55 °C), low biomass (102-104 cells/mL), and deep (3.2 km) brine from an uranium-enriched South African gold mine. Excitation-emission matrices (EEMs), negative electrospray ionization (-ESI) 21 tesla Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), and amino acid analyses suggest the brine DOC is primarily radiolytically oxidized kerogen-rich shales or reefs, methane and ethane, with trace amounts of C3-C6 hydrocarbons and organic sulfides. δ2H and δ13C of C1-C3 hydrocarbons are consistent with abiotic origins. These findings suggest water-rock processes control redox and C cycling, helping support a meagre, slow biosphere over geologic time. A radiolytic-driven, habitable brine may signal similar settings are good targets in the search for life beyond Earth.
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