Primordial water

The high phosphate concentration in cells might indicate the abundance of phosphorus compounds in the primordial waters [85,251,252]. Since the concentration of phosphate in sea water is low (the phosphates of Ca and Mg are poorly soluble in water), it has been argued that more reduced compounds such as hypophosphite (phosphinate, P022-) and/or phosphite (phosphonate, P033-), which have better solubility in sea water, could have been abundant in the primeval, more reduced ocean [252-258]. This suggestion is supported by findings of diverse systems of hypophosphite and phosphite oxidation in prokaryotes (see [259] for a review). 

Modern seawater contains somewhat more iron, (about 5 nM of mostly Fe3+) than Zn2+ (< 2 nM), see [104] and Table 1 in the accompanying article [97]. Hence, compared to the composition of sea water, Zn appears to be the transition metal that is concentrated to the highest extent in the cell. As noted by Williams and Frausto da Silva, the primeval anoxic ocean must have contained Fe2+ ions, which are more soluble than Fe3+ ions. The available estimates of Fe2+ content in primordial waters are in the range of 10-6-10-5 M, compared to the estimate of 10-15-10-12 M forZn2+ ions [124-126]. Hence, the intracellular Zn concentration of 100-300 pM reflects a very efficient scavenging of Zn2+ ions and is consistent with the idea that the emergence of first life forms indeed occurred in very special, Zn2+-rich environments. 

It is reasonable to assume that Venus and Earth and even Mars accumulated similar amounts of primordial water during their accretion phase. So why did Venus lose its water ... 

The effect of water salinity on crop growth is largely of osmotic nature. Osmotic pressure is related to the total salt concentration rather than the concentration of individual ionic elements. Salinity is commonly expressed as the electric conductivity of the irrigation water. Salt concentration can be determined by Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) or by Electrical Conductivity (EC). Under a water scarcity condition, salt tolerance of agricultural crops will be the primordial parameter when the quality of irrigation water is implicated for the integrated water resources management [10]. 

The passage of the whole of the water in the oceans through hydrothermal systems (in about 10 million years), as discussed by Miller and Lazcano, is also not a convincing argument for a possible thermal destruction of all the biomolecules dissolved in the primeval ocean, as there could have been other smaller bodies of water on the primordial Earth which were not subject to such a passage. 

The pH of the oceans forming the primordial soup is important in controlling the charged nature, or otherwise, of the amino and carboxylic acid species and hence their chemistry. Generating reaction schemes for the prebiotic synthesis of molecules requiring basic conditions will not be relevant if the oceans are acidic. Consider dissolving CO2 into water, simply written as ... 

Beneath the shadow of Thy Wings, O Thou the One Reality, I rest safe and secure. Now do I sink down into the still waters of the Primordial let there be peace, within and without. And arising therefrom, let me vivify the Grail-Altar from the withdrawn Temple of Ruta activating it from latency into the living, potent image of the King s Round Table. 

Considering the content of earth s contemporary waters and atmospheres, many questions arise as to the choice of essential elements at the time of life s origins 3.5 billion or more years ago. Certainly, sufficient quantities of the bulk elements were available in primordial oceans and at shorelines. However, the concentrations of essential trace metals in modern oceans may differ considerably from those found in prebiotic times. Iron s current approximate 10 mM... 

On the island of Sicily in the city of Akragos (Agrigentum), Empedocles (483-430 BCE) proposed a theory of fom primordial substance or roots. He associated them with deities, the identity of which varied with the soince Zeus (air or fire), Hera (air or earth), Aidoneus (air, earth, orfire), and Nestis (water) (19). Each root... 

Aristotle of Stageiros (384-322 BCE) did not agree with his teacher s geometric bodies for the different elements. He rejected the Democritian atoms in which matter was considered a principle but form was a secondary characteristic. Nor did he accept the existence of a void. According to the Aristotelian view, the four elements arose from the action on primordial matter by pairs of qualities (warm + dry, fire, warm + moist, air, cold + dry, earth, cold + moist, water). He introduced another element, ether, as a divine substance of which the heavens and stars are made (23). 

Fig. 4.2. The Miller-Urey apparatus for abiotic synthesis of biochemicals from primordial gases is shown. Before each experiment the system was thoroughly evacuated, flushed with interstellar-type gases, and sealed. Water is brought to a boil and vapors rise through an electric discharge chamber and are re-condensed and led back into the boiling water reservoir. It took only a few weeks to produce a color change in the water which indicated an accumulation of organic compounds shown in Table 4.1. On the young earth, of course, this experiment would have been carried on for a few million years.

---