Earth First Origins Research
We propose to identify and explore the specific physical and chemical realms that are both conducive to prebiotic chemistry and that actually existed on early Earth. We will focus not upon early life itself, but upon the chemical synthesis pathways that made life possible, and upon the environments in which those reactions might have occurred. Observational, experimental, and theoretical constraints on early Earth environments will be obtained by integrating geochemical, geophysical, and planetary dynamics approaches. Novel experimental and analytical capabilities, together with computational models will test hypotheses of plausible prebiotic chemistries. The guiding philosophy of the proposed work is that characterization of early Earth environments and fundamental discoveries in abiotic and prebiotic chemistry must go hand-in-hand, such that advances in one area can inform and guide activities in the other, with continuous feedback in real time.
The crux of this approach is true interdisciplinary feedback: New directions in early Earth research driven by the outcomes of prebiotic synthesis experiments that identify key experimental parameters that then require additional constrains from early Earth investigations, and new experimental designs for prebiotic chemistry that might take advantage of the evolving conditions of specific early Earth environments (Figure 1). One of the distinguishing aspects of our proposed work is the intimate association among experts on global and local early Earth environments with researchers engaged in experimental investigations of abiotic and prebiotic Earth, and those that can exploit exciting new data. The key to this interdisciplinary interaction is the Gateway to early Earth (GeE), a two-component framework for co-evolving our research program that comprises both novel experimental facilities and a formalized virtual environment for exploring and recreating early Earth conditions. The Virtual early Earth Portal (VeEP) acts as clearing house, exploratorium, and analytic investigations of early Earth environments and the associated co-varying conditions. The companion early Earth Lab (eEL) is an ultimate translator between early Earth environments and prebiotic chemistry that faithfully and objectively renders early Earth environments in laboratory settings.
