Cells Can Be Powered by a Variety of Free Energy Sources
Downward-percolating seawater is heated and driven back upward as a submarine geyser, carrying with it a current of chemicals from the hot rocks below. A typical cocktail might include H2S, H2, CO, Mn2+, Fe^^, Ni2+, CH2, NH4’^, and phosphorus-containing compounds.
A dense population of bacteria lives in the neighborhood of the vent, thriving on this austere diet and harvesting free energy from reactions between the available chemicals