Message Board Archives

A shallow lake in Canada could point to the origin of life on Earth

Imagine an entirely barren world. Before you is a volcanic landscape, devoid of flora and fauna. Scattered throughout this gray and black expanse are shallow bodies of water. In each of these natural pools brews a precise blend of chemicals and physical conditions that could serve as the source of life on our planet. Some scientists have theorized the scene might have looked much like this, rather than an ocean setting, when life first emerged on Earth roughly 4 billion years ago, and a study centered around a present-day lake in the Canadian province of British Columbia offers new support for that idea.

The shallow, salty body of water situated on volcanic rock — known as Last Chance Lake — holds clues that carbonate-rich lakes in ancient Earth could have been a “cradle of life,” according to study coauthor David Catling, a University of Washington professor of geosciences. The finding, published in the journal Nature on January 9, could advance scientific understanding of how life began.“We were able to look for the specific conditions that people use to synthesize the building blocks of life in nature,” Catling said. “We think that we have a very promising place for the origin of life.”Catling and his colleagues first became aware of the lake as a place to focus their research after a literature review unearthed an unpublished master’s thesis from the 1990s that had recorded unusually high levels of phosphate there. But the researchers had to see it for themselves.


Bodies of water such as these have long been on scientists’ radar as potential sources of primordial life. In the 1800s, Charles Darwin first wrote about his “warm little pond” theory, which proposed that warm, shallow, phosphate-rich lakes could have been where the first molecules of life formed.Last Chance Lake isn’t 4 billion years old — in fact, it’s estimated to have been around less than 10,000 years. The site is simply a modern analog, or a natural snapshot of the past that ultimately offers scientists a chance to better understand what primordial Earth may have looked like outside of a lab.Last Chance Lake is no more than 1 foot deep. Located on a volcanic plateau in British Columbia over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level, it contains the highest levels of concentrated phosphate ever recorded in any natural body of water on Earth.


Oh nooooooooo....there goes barry's bible about Adam and Eve...

In reply to sgtdjones

He is going to counter by saying the article is talking about life on earth 4 billion years ago, not human life which emerged way later.

Creation versus Evolution. The earth is no where close to billions of years in existence. Evolution is just a hypothetical theory not a reality. When compared to creation, evolution is just a fantasy!

How Did Scientists Calculate the Age of Earth?

Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer
The age of rocks is determined by radiometric dating, which looks at the proportion of two different isotopes in a sample. Radioactive isotopes break down in a predictable amount of time, enabling geologists to determine the age of a sample using equipment like this thermal ionization mass spectrometer.. The same techniques of radiometric dating have been used on those rocks. All the data from Earth and beyond has led to the estimated age of 4.5 billion years for our planet.
Earth is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus about 50 million years. Scientists have scoured the Earth searching for the oldest rocks to radiometrically date. In northwestern Canada, they discovered rocks about 4.03 billion years old.

For the scriptured ones...

How old is Earth in the Bible?
about 6000 years
Concerning the age of the Earth, the Bible's genealogical records combined with the Genesis 1 account of creation are used to estimate an age for the Earth and universe of about 6000 years, with a bit of uncertainty on the completeness of the genealogical records, allowing for a few thousand years more.

There is no evidence to imply that evolution is losing supporters. Anthology: A Peer-Reviewed Biological Journal Each issue of This Journal contains articles that either endorse evolution as a fundamental concept or support and extend evolutionary studies.
In an effort to create room for creationism, opponents of evolution seek to dismantle legitimate science, but their arguments are without merit.
Evolutionists hold that all species have undergone change over time due to natural selection and genetic mutation, whereas creationists maintain that all species have remained unaltered since their initial creation.
I believe in the scientific theory of evolution.

Scientific debates

See educational level ...