Oxygen concentrations in the bottom waters of the Lower St. Lawrence estuary (LSLE) decreased from 125 mol L Ϫ1 (37.7% saturation) in the 1930s to an average of 65 mol L Ϫ1 (20.7% saturation) for the 1984-2003 period. A concurrent 1.65ЊC warming of the bottom water from the 1930s to the 1980s suggests that changes in the relative proportions of cold, fresh, oxygen-rich Labrador Current Water (LCW) and warm, salty, oxygen-poor North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) in the water mass entering the Laurentian Channel probably played a role in the oxygen depletion. We estimate that about one half to two thirds of the oxygen loss in the bottom waters of the LSLE can be attributed to a decreased proportion of LCW. This leaves between one third and one half of the oxygen decrease to be explained by causes other than changes in water mass composition. An increase in the along-channel oxygen gradient from Cabot Strait to the LSLE over the past decades, combined with data from sediment cores, suggests that increased sediment oxygen demand may be partly responsible for the remainder of the oxygen decline. In July 2003, approximately 1,300 km 2 of seafloor in the LSLE was bathed in hypoxic water (Ͻ62.5 mol L Ϫ1).Severe hypoxia is a condition that occurs in the water column when oxygen (O 2 ) falls below the 2 mg L

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Considerable discussion surrounds the potential role of anoxygenic phototrophic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria in both the genesis of Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) and early marine productivity. However, anoxygenic phototrophs have yet to be identified in modern environments with comparable chemistry and physical structure to the ancient Fe(II)-rich (ferruginous) oceans from which BIFs deposited. Lake Matano, Indonesia, the eighth deepest lake in the world, is such an environment. Here, sulfate is scarce (<20 mol⅐liter ؊1 ), and it is completely removed by sulfate reduction within the deep, Fe(II)-rich chemocline. The sulfide produced is efficiently scavenged by the formation and precipitation of FeS, thereby maintaining very low sulfide concentrations within the chemocline and the deep ferruginous bottom waters. Low productivity in the surface water allows sunlight to penetrate to the >100-m-deep chemocline. Within this sulfide-poor, Fe(II)-rich, illuminated chemocline, we find a populous assemblage of anoxygenic phototrophic green sulfur bacteria (GSB). These GSB represent a large component of the Lake Matano phototrophic community, and bacteriochlorophyll e, a pigment produced by low-light-adapted GSB, is nearly as abundant as chlorophyll a in the lake's euphotic surface waters. The dearth of sulfide in the chemocline requires that the GSB are sustained by phototrophic oxidation of Fe(II), which is in abundant supply. By analogy, we propose that similar microbial communities, including populations of sulfate reducers and photoferrotrophic GSB, likely populated the chemoclines of ancient ferruginous oceans, driving the genesis of BIFs and fueling early marine productivity.anoxygenic photosynthesis ͉ banded iron formation ͉ green sulfur bacteria ͉ iron oxidation ͉ Lake Matano