The Miller Volcanic Spark Discharge Experiment
Adam P. Johnson,1
H. James Cleaves,2
Jason P. Dworkin,3
Daniel P. Glavin,3
Antonio Lazcano,4
Jeffrey L. Bada5*
Miller's 1950s experiments used, besides the apparatus known
in textbooks, one that generated a hot water mist in the spark
flask, simulating a water vapor-rich volcanic eruption. We found
the original extracts of this experiment in Miller's material
and reanalyzed them. The volcanic apparatus produced a wider
variety of amino acids than the classic one. Release of reduced
gases in volcanic eruptions accompanied by lightning could have
been common on the early Earth. Prebotic compounds synthesized
in these environments could have locally accumulated, where
they could have undergone further processing.
2 Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
3 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar System Exploration Division, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
4 Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacionale Autónoma de México, Mexico Distrito Federal 04510, Mexico.
5 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093–0212, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jbada{at}ucsd.edu
