Gaia Water & Humic Acid

D. Grant New Deer-Turriff UK

The Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that the Earth is somehow like a living
organism, seems to lack any convincing supporting evidence.

Perhaps the most helpful definition of life a is that this is always a multi
component super-interactive system; alternatively put: life is always to
do with symbiosis. Single stand-alone units or species are not favored.
Rather, life depends on multiple-unit-multiple-species-interactions. The
essential-to-life interaction subunits and interactions that they engage in
are themselves part of life. And this surely includes their environment as
part of any properly-defined living system. This obviously includes the
(surface) of the planet Earth. The Gaia Earth in symbiotic relationship
with the species which inhabit it can therefore be seen as an essential part
of this living system.

The mechanism of this symbiosis of this system currently involves a

critical role for the decomposition of detritus produced by living
organisms to form humic polymers which can also act as feedback water
buffers which seems to be part of the mechanism used by Gaia to keep
the composition of the sea constant and also can influence the
composition of the atmosphere b.

Living cells contain various kinds of imperfectly understood surface and

extracellular polyelectrolyte surface active systems which, as is now
pointed out, show unexpectedly closely similar physical and chemical
properties to the humic-matter-polyelectrolytes which occur in natural
waters and soils. This note now further suggests that the similarity of the
manner in which humic acid and un-degraded biological polyelectrolyte
systems of polyanions exist at the surface of the Earth and the surfaces of
living cells could further support the Gaia hypothesis. This similarity
could especially help to re-define the role of the water and water/soil
layer of the Earth which contain the said ubiquitous polyanionic
(abundant ‘aggregate-polymer’-C(O)O- anionic group containing) humic
class of organic substances. This class of material is the most abundant
form of organic chemical ‘molecule-class’ on the surface of the Earth and
it also constitutes the principal organic carbon store (being present both in
seawater rivers in terrestrial soils and geological sediments).
It should be noted that the above soil and natural polyelectrolytes
(including humic and fulvic acid salts, (algal) alginates, and (animal)
heparin) always may exist naturally as multi-inorganic element matrices
which are analogous to (human) blood serum and seawater in their multi-
inorganic element make-up. All of these matrices seem to be definable as
the Haraguchi-all-element-system type (which demonstrate an general
exponential inter-correlation). The inorganic components of natural
polyelectrolytes evidently enable specific pro-life water activities to be
attained both in rivers seas and between cells in multicellular organisms.

The role of “liquid-water-logic” seems to show up in the field of non-

crystalline matter of colloidal sized sol silica particles which can self-
seed similar forms in a manner apparently analogous to e.g. bacteria.
Proteinoids (non-biotic poly-D+L-amino acids studied by Fox) also
behave similarly. Inorganic crystal when seeded also do this also in a
manner mimicked by biological cells as discussed by Lima-de Faria (who
showed that inorganic crystal aggregates can strangely assume the types
of symmetrical forms adopted by conventional DNA-containing
organisms). So reproduction of form is probably a quite general chemical
(and not specifically a biological) phenomenon which cannot be held to
be different between DNA –based living and other cellular quasi-living
systems.
Reproduction per se cannot define life. The suggestion from
homeopathy, hotly debated of course, is that flickering cluster water
aggregates can self-seed exactly similar biologically active forms. There
is the even more difficult-to-believe idea from Japan that ice crystals can
be formed in different degrees of perfection in a manner which senses
human emotions. At present this idea like that of morphogenic fields
which allow ideas to be transmitted between animals seems well outside
the realm of current science. (It should, however, be noted that weak
radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation fields at energy levels which
could not have been predicted to do so, have, however, been found in
laboratories to apparently affect crystal growth rates and the morphology
of the formed crystals. So perhaps in the future a scientifically acceptable
mechanism by which ultra-weak forces can influence crystal growth will
be forthcoming. This could be how Gaia exists as a living sensing
organism).
A similar random assemblage of intrinsically stable-in-aqueous-solution
aggregates similar to present day biological cell derived humic matter
might have formed prior to life on earth (cf. the reports of organic matter
and water on asteroids and comets).
For multicellular animals that a similar sort of potential logic gating
control system is afforded by the cell surface polysaccharides which in
the case of heparan sulfate (also believed to be involved in cognition and
memory) achieves a putative, more definite system manager role status or
directing intra- and inter-cellular communication and perhaps also affords
gates to logically alter DNA sequences under certain conditions.
Footnotes
a
The rigorous definition of what constitutes a living organism depends on the rigorous definition of
what constitutes life. A commonly-held belief is that life is expected always to depend on the presence
of carbon compounds especially amino acids which are assembled according to DNA or RNA template
systems. This clearly greatly restricts thinking to cellular forms terrestrial life of life but this may
include the planet surface within an extended definition. If, however, we start from the premise that
the earth is also a living organism we may require to abandon the idea that life is something to directly
do in its most basic form with DNA and RNA. (The opposite may be the case). Life could to have
started with pure chemistry. Water chemistry (cf. WAP Luck). However not pure water but rather
water with dissolved electrolytes organic polymers (at the start perhaps something like formose) and
dispersed silica sols and other supra-molecular- structure-inducing nano-bubbles. It is of course a
commonly held believed that life centrally involves the presence of liquid water. It should be noted that
this substance has a complex poorly understood intermolecular aggregate structure which resembles
silicate random assemblages. Clearly the surface of the earth, being largely covered with water in the
seas and in biota and soil etc. and water absorbed and adsorbed on humic matter on land qualifies as
part of this kind of definition of life.
[Extracellular poly-(inorganic)-phosphates occur throughout biota and organic (associated inorganic)
polysaccharides occur in bacteria plants and animals. These different chemical polyelectrolyte systems show a
range of similarities in their physical chemical behavior in regard to their potential for anti free-radical (e.g. ex-
ionizing radiation) multi metal ion binding (some less abundant metals being strongly sequestered by these
ligands) and water activity homeostasis (buffering) potential which includes the ability to support a system of
supersaturation of such salts of CaCO3 which feed back into e.g. atmospheric chemistry in the seas for which
system there are parallel actions of e.g. anionic poly-inorganic phosphates and heparan sulfates in animals poly-
inorganic phosphates and pectin in plants. Another possible, but less understood, possibility is the manner in
which polymers elect overt or subtle micro paramagnetic and magnetic particle assemblages at the surfaces of cells
from species as far apart as homing pigeons to bacteria which can interact with the earth magnetic field; cf. also
humic polymers similarly avidly bind paramagnetic ions].
The role of such a chemically simple system of water soluble or water layer binding inorganic
polymers containing only phosphate groups in living organisms, is currently obscure but has been
suggested by Kornberg to have been involved in the first stages of the evolution of living organisms.
The role of phosphate as in ATP with universal biota triphosphate - diphosphate energy flow roles,
seems to have been a major part of the background of this hypothesis. This ATP dependent energy
system has recently been demonstrated (Wiggins) to centrally involve (high density / low density)
water structure chemistry as its main engine and such systems can further be suggested in principle not
to be restricted to the polyphosphates. They may also occur with polysulfated molecules (similar to
those which are employed as commercial proton conductors) as well as silicates, especially the
amorphous silicates. Such systems may be part of the mechanism of how interactions between water
and inorganic moieties including solid surfaces in general can provide energy flow control switches.
Such activities, it might be suggested also constitute what allows for a primitive logic function. This
suggests that such primitive logic processor systems to that which biota is subject can occur at the
surfaces of bodies such as planets which also have a water coating or subsurface layer.

b
E.g. by controlling carbonate ion fluxes in the sea. It can be argued that
anthropogenic influences might achieve alteration of global climate by
this mechanism.