---
title: "Hydrothermal vents were not the cradle of life: Calgary geochemist refutes long-standing hypothesis"
description: "Geochemist Benjamin Tutolo of the University of Calgary, in a paper for PNAS, refuted the hypothesis that life originated at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, pointing to errors in the data on sulfur and alkalinity. The new model points to evaporative lakes as the more likely cradle of life."
date: 2026-09-03T16:18:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/hydrothermal-vents-were-not-the-cradle-of-life-calgary-geochemist-refutes-longstanding-hypothesis
tags: [origin-of-life, hydrothermal-vents, geochemistry, pnas, extraterrestrial-life, abiogenesis]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Hydrothermal vents were not the cradle of life: Calgary geochemist refutes long-standing hypothesis

![Abstract visualization of chemical reactions and molecular structures symbolizing the refutation of the hydrothermal vent origin-of-life hypothesis](https://xab.info/media/2026/09/03/opoverzhenie-teorii-zarozhdeniya-zhizni-v-gidrotermalnyh-istochnikah/opoverzhenie-teorii-zarozhdeniya-zhizni-v-gidrotermalnyh-istochnikah-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- Benjamin Tutolo (University of Calgary) refuted in PNAS the hypothesis that life originated at deep-sea hydrothermal vents
- The ancient ocean and rocks did not contain sufficient sulfur, and proton gradients could not have existed under real conditions
- High alkalinity readings were an artifact of sample cooling when brought to the surface
- Tutolo suggests considering evaporative lakes and basins as a more likely environment for the synthesis of RNA, proteins, and lipids
- The new model changes the priorities in the search for extraterrestrial life on Mars and icy moons

Benjamin Tutolo, a leading geochemist at the University of Calgary, has published a study in the prestigious scientific journal PNAS that calls into question one of the most enduring theories in the biology of the origin of life. For several decades, the scientific community has adhered to the view that the first living organisms emerged near deep-sea hydrothermal vents — underwater "chimneys" that release heat, hydrogen, and alkaline solutions. The discovery in 2000 of the "Lost City" hydrothermal field in the Atlantic Ocean, with its tall carbonate chimneys, only reinforced this paradigm. However, according to Tutolo, the entire concept rests on outdated and, as it turns out, false assumptions about the chemical conditions that prevailed on Earth nearly four billion years ago.

### The sulfur that was not there, and the gradients that could not have existed

The key error, as pointed out by the geochemist, concerns the role of sulfide minerals. For many years, scientists considered them the main catalysts of primary metabolism in hydrothermal systems. Nevertheless, as a re-examination of the data shows, the alkaline vents, the surrounding rocks, and the ancient ocean itself contained essentially no sulfur in quantities sufficient to drive the chemical reactions necessary for the emergence of life. Moreover, the powerful proton gradients — the difference in hydrogen ion concentration between the alkaline fluid of the vents and the acidic ocean — which, according to earlier models, were supposed to provide the energy for primary metabolism, simply could not have existed under real conditions.

### A measurement error: alkalinity "inflated" by cooling

A special place in Tutolo's argumentation is occupied by a methodological error made in interpreting data on the alkalinity of hydrothermal fluids. High alkalinity readings were recorded only when the liquid samples were brought to the surface and cooled. Under the enormous pressure and extreme temperatures on the ocean floor, these same solutions had a significantly lower alkalinity than had been assumed. Thus, the fundamental parameter on which the entire "alkaline vents as the cradle of life" model was built turned out to be overestimated due to a sampling artifact.

### Evaporative lakes as the new cradle

Rather than deep-sea vents, Tutolo suggests redirecting attention to surface water systems. According to his analysis, it is precisely in evaporative basins and lakes — temporary water bodies subject to cycles of evaporation and concentration of dissolved substances — that the combination of chemical conditions necessary for the synthesis of key components of living cells arises: ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins, and lipids. These conditions include periodic changes in salt concentration, fluctuations in pH, and the availability of organic molecules, which makes evaporative lakes a far more likely environment for the emergence of the first biochemical systems than stable underwater vents.

### Impact on the search for extraterrestrial life

Revising the place where life originated on Earth has direct practical consequences for astronomy and planetary science. In Tutolo's own words, the targeted search for traces of biological activity at hydrothermal vents on Mars or on the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn — Europa, Enceladus, Titan — may prove futile if life on these bodies (should it exist) arose through a different scenario. At the same time, the chances of detecting extraterrestrial life do not disappear: evaporative lakes could theoretically form on the surfaces of other planets and moons, opening a new direction for future missions and observations.

### Context: parallel research on the origin of life

Tutolo's work is not the only one in recent years to have revised established views on the origin of life. In particular, in March 2025, a group of researchers, the results of which were reported by Gazeta.ru, demonstrated that calcium ions may have played a significant role in stabilizing early biomolecules and influencing the conditions for the emergence of life. These parallel lines of research indicate that the scientific community is undergoing a large-scale revision of abiogenesis models, and none of them is yet definitive.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [The place of life's origin in question: a popular theory turned out to be wrong](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/mistse-zarodzhennya-zhittya-pid-pitannyam-1788445627.html) - Основной источник: пересказ статьи Тутоло в PNAS. Все ключевые факты (отсутствие серы, ошибка щелочности, альтернатива в виде испарительных озёр, последствия для поиска внеземной жизни) соответствуют тексту источника.
- [Scientists found out how calcium could have influenced the origin of life](https://www.gazeta.ru/science/news/2025/03/27/25414886.shtml) - Использован исключительно для контекстного абзаца о параллельных исследованиях abiogenesis. Не противоречит основной статье, описывает иное направление (роль ионов кальция).

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: Who refuted the hypothesis that hydrothermal vents were the cradle of life?
**A:** Geochemist Benjamin Tutolo from the University of Calgary. His study was published in the scientific journal PNAS.

### Q: What is the main error in the previous hypothesis?
**A:** The concept was built on false assumptions: the ancient ocean and rocks did not contain enough sulfur for catalysis, and the proton gradients between the alkaline vent fluid and the acidic ocean could not have existed under real conditions. In addition, the high alkalinity readings were an artifact of sample cooling when brought to the surface.

### Q: What does Tutolo propose instead of hydrothermal vents?
**A:** Surface evaporative lakes and basins. According to his data, it is there that the necessary chemical conditions arise for the synthesis of RNA, proteins, and lipids — the key components of living cells.

### Q: How does this affect the search for extraterrestrial life?
**A:** The search for biological traces at hydrothermal vents on Mars or on the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn may prove ineffective. However, evaporative lakes could theoretically exist on other planets, opening a new direction for the search.

### Q: When was the "Lost City" hydrothermal field discovered?
**A:** In 2000, in the Atlantic Ocean. Its carbonate chimneys were long considered confirmation of the hypothesis of alkaline vents as the cradle of life.