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spot, it doesn’t start out gently, but with very acidic water temperatures of 200-300 degrees C. The life at
these vents are specialized to live there. If that kind of system is thought to be the main focal point of life on
a small moon, it doesn’t seem a very stable place for life to develop. But in terms of how life makes a living
there? The rock-chemical basis for life is known to be on Earth and is ancient. Life started so quickly on Earth,
based on the kind of energy channels already happening spontaneously and inorganically with hydrogen,
carbon, and oxygen, that those microbes can be seen as living extensions of the water and rock that made
their home. And so the thinking has been, perhaps these kind of microbes could be on other wet and rocky
worlds, if their environment is stable enough, and not so extreme as the volcanic vents.

Lost City Hydrothermal System

ICY SCIENCE | QTR 2 SPRING 2014