Changeability of Pressure, Temperature, and Concentrations of Components in the Explored Hydrothermal Systems

Abstract

The carried out exploration of Mutnovsky, Pauzhetsky (Kamchatka), and Kuldur hydrothermal systems has revealed availability of diverse long-term (months-years) and short-term (minutes-hours) fluctuations of pressure, temperature, and concentrations of chemical components in the wells . The long-term changes of pressure and temperature, as well as concentrations of Na⁺, NH₄ ⁺, Cl⁻, and HCO₃ ⁻, can be very substantial and emphasize high variability of the parameters in hydrothermal medium , in comparison with the alternate media for life origin (ocean, lake, ice cover, or cosmic space). The most interesting short-term variability of pressure and temperature consists of the both regular microoscillations (periods 10–20 min, amplitudes up to 1 bar) and irregular macrofluctuations (amplitudes up to several bars). Besides, it is distinguished the highest frequency component of pressure dynamics consisting of sudden pressure changes and fluctuations with periods lower 5 min. The correlation coefficient between pressure and temperature of water–steam mixture ranges from 0.89 to 0.99. The obtained results are used for experimental testing of some key notions of the inversion concept of life origin. In its framework, an optimal combination of irregular and regular short-term fluctuations was necessary to launch and maintain far-from-equilibrium processes in prebiotic microsystems . The characterized periodic geyser -type regime of fluid discharge corroborates the theoretically proposed mechanism of organic substance concentration: (a) latent accumulation of organics under the cover of rocks and (b) its following concentrated release in the form of the association of interacting prebiotic microsystems.