However, those enzymes too may be trapped on the clay crystals.
2.
Although they may have a large water content, it is bound to the surface of the flat clay crystals comprising the shale.
3.
There follows a process of natural selection for clay crystals that trap certain forms of molecules to their surfaces that may enhance their replication potential.
4.
The book popularized a hypothesis he began to develop in the mid-1960s that self-replication of clay crystals in solution might provide a simple intermediate step between biologically inert matter and organic life.