Tectonically-driven oxidant production in the hot biosphere.

Genomic reconstructions of the common ancestor to all life have identified genes involved in HO and O cycling. Commonly dismissed as an artefact of lateral gene transfer after oxygenic photosynthesis evolved, an alternative is a geological source of HO and O on the early Earth. Here, we show that under oxygen-free conditions high concentrations of HO can be released from defects on crushed silicate rocks when water is added and heated to temperatures close to boiling point, but little is released at temperatures <80 °C. This temperature window overlaps the growth ranges of evolutionary ancient heat-loving and oxygen-respiring Bacteria and Archaea near the root of the Universal Tree of Life. We propose that the thermal activation of mineral surface defects during geological fault movements and associated stresses in the Earth's crust was a source of oxidants that helped drive the (bio)geochemistry of hot fractures where life first evolved.