Chemistry to Life: Abiogenesis Through Hydrothermal Flow

Abstract Life is commonly explained as beginning through the spontaneous emergence of highly specific molecules such as RNA, peptides, or primitive membranes. While these models offer valuable insight, they often depend on statistically improbable molecular events occurring under early Earth conditions. This paper proposes a process-centered alternative: that life emerged as a natural consequence of chemistry operating under persistent directional flow within deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems. Within porous mineral structures near hydrothermal vents, hot mineral-rich water continuously circulates through narrow channels, creating conditions of confinement, repetition, concentration, and catalytic interaction. These conditions may have promoted the spontaneous formation of flexible molecular strands composed of repeating chemical units. Such strands could function as primitive information systems by attracting complementary molecules, preserving structural patterns, and undergoing growth and fragmentation. As these systems increased in complexity, catalytic molecules capable of controlled strand cleavage may have emerged, accelerating replication, recombination, and molecular selection. Independently formed lipid vesicles could then encapsulate these strands and catalysts, creating protected microenvironments where chemistry became increasingly localized, self-sustaining, and selective. This transition represents the bridge between abiotic chemistry and primitive cellular life. In this framework, life is best understood not as a singular improbable accident, but as the gradual stabilization of persistent chemical patterns shaped by flow, confinement, mineral catalysis, and time. This model suggests that life may be a natural outcome wherever similar hydrothermal environments exist, both on Earth and elsewhere in the universe.