A research ship will set sail next month in an attempt to solve the mystery of how life started on Earth.

Scientists travelling to the Arctic Ocean hope to study an isolated ecosystem about three miles (4.8km) beneath the ice using robot submarines.

The Gakkel Ridge, which is close to the geographic North Pole and extends 1,100 miles along the ocean floor, is thought to host lifeforms that exist nowhere else in the world.

The expedition, which has been organised by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the United States, will concentrate on searching for hydrothermal vents, which spew hot, mineral-rich liquids into the water. Scientist say that conditions around the vents are chemically similar to conditions that existed before life evolved on Earth.

“The origin-of-life discussion comes up because the rocks that are exposed on this very slow spreading ridge are not volcanic, but instead come directly from Earth’s mantle,” said Susan Humphris, a geo-chemist on the expedition.

“The chemistry is very much like the volcanism that occurred on the primordial Earth. If you are thinking about origins of life, you’d like to have an area that is the closest to what was happening on the early Earth.”

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