Listen back to iCRAG Deputy Director Prof. Balz Kamber’s talk with Jonathan McCrea of Newstalk on the Origin of Life on earth (May 14th): http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Futureproof/Futureproof_with_Jonathan_McCrea/139613/Embryo_Research_Limits_The_Origins_of_Life__Newsround
This interview stemmed from Prof. Kamber’s recently published article “Chemostratigraphy of the Sudbury impact basin fill: Volatile metal loss and post-impact evolution of a submarine impact basin” published in Geochimica and Cosmochimica Act.
By studying the chemostratigraphy of the Sudbury basin in Canada, and using it as an analogue for the Hadean and Eoarchaean Earth, Prof. Kamber’s findings suggest that hydrothermal systems, capable of producing volcanogenic massive sulphides, could develop within the rims of large to giant impact structures. These hydrothermal systems did not require mid-ocean ridges and implicitly, the operation of plate tectonics. Regardless of hydrothermal input, enclosed submarine impact basins also provided diverse isolated environments (potential future oases) for the establishment of life.
Full text of article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.04.007