Books with titles like 'The Call of the Wild' seemed to set a path for a life. Thus, I would be an explorer-a plan that did not work out so well, at least at first. On leaving school I got a job as a 'Works Chemist Improver', testing Ni catalysts for the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol. Taking night classes I passed enough exams to study geology at Queen Mary College, London. Armed thus I travelled to the Solomon Islands where geology is a 'happening'! Next was Canada to visit a mine sunk into a 1.5 billion year old Pb-Zn orebody precipitated from submarine hot springs. At last I reached the Yukon to prospect for silver. Thence to Ireland researching what I also took to be 'exhalative' (i.e. hot spring-related) Pb-Zn orebodies. While there in 1979, the discovery of 350°C metal-bearing acidic waters issuing from submarine Black Smoker chimneys in the Pacific sent us searching for fossil examples in the Irish mines. However, the chimneys we found were more like chemical gardens than Black Smokers, a finding that made us think about the emergence of life. After all, what better for life's emergence than to have a membrane comprising Fe minerals dosed with Ni in our chimneys to mediate the 'hydrogenation' of CO2-life's job anyway. Indeed, such a membrane would keep redox and pH disequilibria at bay, just like biological membranes. At the same time, my field research among Alpine ophiolites-ocean floor mafic rocks obducted to the Alps-indicated that alkaline waters bearing H2 and CH4 were a result of serpentinization, a process that must have operated in all ocean floors over all time. Thus it was that we could predict the Lost City hydrothermal field 10 years before its discovery in the North Atlantic in the year 2000. Lost City comprises a number of alkaline springs at up to 90°C that produce carbonate and brucite (Mg[OH]2) chimneys. We had surmised that Ni-enriched FeS chimneys would have precipitated at comparable alkaline springs issuing into a metal-rich carbonic ocean on the very early Earth (inducing membrane potentials comparable to those capable of succouring all life, and presumably, sufficient to drive life into being). However, our laboratory precipitates also revealed green rust, thought to be the precursor to the magnetite now comprising the Archaean Banded Iron Formations. We now look upon green rust, also known as fougèrite, as the tangible, base fractal of life.

中文翻译：

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展望人生。

诸如《野性的呼唤》之类的书似乎为人生指明了一条道路。因此，我将成为一名探险家——这个计划的实施效果并不理想，至少一开始是这样。离开学校后，我找到了一份“工厂化学改进员”的工作，测试苯酚氢化成环己醇的镍催化剂。通过夜间课程，我通过了足够的考试，可以在伦敦玛丽女王学院学习地质学。带着这样的武装，我前往所罗门群岛，那里的地质学是“正在发生的”！接下来，加拿大参观了一座沉入海底温泉沉淀的 15 亿年前铅锌矿体中的矿山。最后我到达育空地区寻找白银。此后前往爱尔兰研究我也认为是“呼气”（即与温泉相关）的铅锌矿体。1979 年，我们在太平洋海底黑烟囱中发现了含有 350°C 金属的酸性水，这促使我们在爱尔兰矿井中寻找化石样本。然而，我们发现的烟囱更像是化学花园，而不是黑烟囱，这一发现让我们思考生命的出现。毕竟，对于生命的出现来说，还有什么比在我们的烟囱中使用含有铁矿物质和镍的膜来介导二氧化碳生命工作的“氢化”更好的了。事实上，这样的膜可以防止氧化还原和 pH 不平衡，就像生物膜一样。与此同时，我对高山蛇绿岩（仰冲至阿尔卑斯山的洋底基性岩）进行的实地研究表明，含有 H2 和 CH4 的碱性水是蛇纹石化的结果，这一过程必定一直在所有海底进行。因此，我们可以在 2000 年在北大西洋发现失落之城热液田之前 10 年对其进行预测。失落之城由许多温度高达 90°C 的碱性泉水组成，这些泉水会产生碳酸盐和水镁石 (Mg[OH] 2）烟囱。我们推测，在地球早期，富镍的硫化铁烟囱会在类似的碱性泉水中沉淀，流入富含金属的碳海洋（产生的膜电位与能够拯救所有生命的膜电位相当，并且可能足以驱动生命进入地球）。存在）。然而，我们的实验室沉淀物也显示出绿锈，被认为是现在构成太古代带状铁地层的磁铁矿的前体。现在，我们将绿锈（也称为福特石）视为生命有形的基础分形。