Article
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This version is not peer-reviewed
Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay?
Version 1
: Received: 16 September 2020 / Approved: 17 September 2020 / Online: 17 September 2020 (13:01:15 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 4 November 2020 / Approved: 5 November 2020 / Online: 5 November 2020 (10:43:44 CET)
Version 2 : Received: 4 November 2020 / Approved: 5 November 2020 / Online: 5 November 2020 (10:43:44 CET)
How to cite: Hansma, H.G. Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay? . Preprints 2020, 2020090409 Hansma, H.G. Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay? . Preprints 2020, 2020090409
Abstract
This paper presents a hypothesis about the origins of life in a clay mineral, starting with the earliest molecules, continuing through the increasing complexity of the development, in neighboring clay niches, of “Metabolism First,” “RNA World,” and other necessary components of life, to the encapsulation by membranes of the components in the niches, to the interaction and fusion of these membrane-bound protocells, resulting finally in a living cell, capable of reproduction and evolution. Biotite (black mica) in micaceous clay is the proposed site for this origin of life. Mechanical energy of moving biotite sheets provides one endless source of energy. Potassium ions between biotite sheets would be the source of the high intracellular potassium ion concentrations in all living cells.
Supplementary and Associated Material
http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~hhansma/mica.htm: Possible origin of life between mica sheets
Keywords
clay; mica; biotite; muscovite; origin of life; abiogenesis; mechanical energy; work; wet-dry
Subject
Engineering, Mining and Mineral Processing
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Commenter: Helen Greenwood Hansma
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