Research on Last Chance Lake in British Columbia, Canada, is providing groundbreaking insights into the origin of life on Earth. The study, published in the journal Nature on January 9, reveals that carbonate-rich lakes, like Last Chance, may have been “cradles of life” at the dawn of the planet, challenging traditional theories about the emergence of life.
The focus on Last Chance Lake stemmed from a 1990s master’s thesis that recorded unusually high levels of phosphate in the shallow body of water. This discovery is significant as phosphate is crucial for DNA, RNA, and ATP, and the lake has the highest concentrations ever recorded in a natural body of water on Earth.
Sebastian Haas, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, led the study of the lake’s unique chemical and microbiological characteristics. Haas and his team found evidence of abundant dolomite in the lake, which contributes to the accumulation of phosphorus in the environment. This, combined with the influence of minerals from the volcanic rock and the arid climate, provides fundamental clues about the conditions that may have favored the emergence of life on Earth 4 billion years ago.
The findings suggest that life may have emerged in terrestrial soda lakes, rather than in the deep ocean, challenging traditional theories and opening new routes for the exploration and search for extraterrestrial life. If life originated in environments similar to soda lakes, then planets with characteristics similar to Mars could be more likely to harbor life or evidence of its past existence. The implications of this study may direct future space exploration missions as we search for life beyond Earth.