Black Smokers
Black smoker at a mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal vent. NOAA
The real surprise was that the sites of Black Smokers were also home to thriving communities of life. The basis for that life are extremophiles that convert the heat, methane, and sulfur compounds provided by black smokers into energy through a process called chemosynthesis.
This discovery had significant implications to theories on where life on Earth may have started. Prior to that discovery, the scientific consensus was that life was originally powered by sunlight. The most likely location for life to begin was thought to be some kind of shallow water setting. But there were known problems with this idea. The early Earth was not a particularly stable setting as it would have been subject to frequent impacts. But a deep oceanic setting would have been a more protected environment. Hence, it has been suggested that deep sea vents were the site where life began. There is, in fact phylogenetic evidence, which, as stated above, we will not discuss, that suggests that thermophiles are in fact the last common ancestor of Archaea, Eukaryotes and Bacteria.
If you like the Science Guy (Bill Nye), you'll enjoy this 5 min clip discussing what we have outlined above. If you don't, maybe the mention of giant red-blooded worms will peak your interest.
Please note that we still don’t know with certainty and there are a number of Abiogenesis or “Origin of life” theories, but the deep sea vent hypothesis is now favoured by many. The liquid oceans of the satellites of the outer planets are prime locations for the potential existence of these kinds of extremophiles.
