Modeling Hydrothermal Vents on Europa

Hydrothermal vents occurring at sea-floor-spreading centers may have hosted the first transition from abiotic to biotic chemical processes, eventually resulting in the emergence of life. The possibility of these vents also being present on Europa's subsurface ocean floor puts forth intriguing astrobiological implications relevant to both life on another planetary body as well as the origins of life on Earth. The studies presented here simulate conditions at potential hydrothermal vents on Europa to determine which minerals favorable to life form under these conditions. Several models were composed, including simulations of (1) water-rock interactions to study how fluids inside a hydrothermal vent react with the rock that composes the vent, (2) simulations of the resulting hydrothermal fluid being introduced and reacting with seawater under terrestrial and europan ocean conditions and (3) reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions that investigate the chemical energy potentially available to microbes for use in organic and metabolic processes. Eventual transportation of minerals formed at these hydrothermal vents would provide evidence of the geochemical processes occurring on the ocean floor. Results from these efforts help in understanding what signatures of hydrothermal activity in Europa's ocean might be found by exploration spacecraft observing its geologically active surface.