The origin of life depends not only on the presence of water on Earth, but also on where building blocks came from and where the chemical reactions were most active.

If organic substances were for instance transported to Earth from space, the same prebiotic building blocks might also form the basis of life on other planets. The same applies to the role of different types of minerals, including carbon-rich and non-carbon-rich minerals, each of which can influence chemical processes in a different way.

Furthermore, all sorts of reactions take place at the interface between water and rock, with the rock acting as a catalyst, a storage site and a location where redox reactions occur.

Given these factors, this project investigates how these types of conditions influence the composition and development of organic molecules. The project includes experiments that replicate the composition of early oceans, both with and without material from space, and under the influence of UV radiation. Also, it will be investigated how changing conditions at the interface between water and rock can promote the formation of more complex structures. In this way, scientists are investigating how simple building blocks can organise themselves into systems with increasingly life-like properties.