Eolianite Grain Size Distributions as a Proxy for Large Changes in Planetary Atmospheric Density

Goosmann, Erik A.; Catling, David C.; Som, Sanjoy M.; Altermann, Wladyslaw; Buick, Roger

doi:10.1029/2018je005723

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(144 reference statements)

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“…Oxidative weathering would have introduced a new source of N into the atmosphere, and subducted oxidized sediments may have changed the redox state of the mantle wedge and further enabled N 2 outgassing (Mikhail and Sverjensky 2014). Advances in N-cycle modeling (Johnson and Goldblatt 2018) coupled with the development of additional geological markers of air density (Goosmann et al 2018;Silverman et al 2018) will test this model.…”

Section: Geological Sources and Sinks Of Atmospheric Carbon And Nitrogenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mission to Planet Earth: The First Two Billion Years

et al. 2020

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Solar radiation and geological processes over the first few million years of Earth’s history, followed soon thereafter by the origin of life, steered our planet towards an evolutionary trajectory of long-lived habitability that ultimately enabled the emergence of complex life. We review the most important conditions and feedbacks over the first 2 billion years of this trajectory, which perhaps represent the best analogue for other habitable worlds in the galaxy. Crucial aspects included: (1) the redox state and volatile content of Earth’s building blocks, which determined the longevity of the magma ocean and its ability to degas H2O and other greenhouse gases, in particular CO2, allowing the condensation of a water ocean; (2) the chemical properties of the resulting degassed mantle, including oxygen fugacity, which would have not only affected its physical properties and thus its ability to recycle volatiles and nutrients via plate tectonics, but also contributed to the timescale of atmospheric oxygenation; (3) the emergence of life, in particular the origin of autotrophy, biological N2 fixation, and oxygenic photosynthesis, which accelerated sluggish abiotic processes of transferring some volatiles back into the lithosphere; (4) strong stellar UV radiation on the early Earth, which may have eroded significant amounts of atmospheric volatiles, depending on atmospheric CO2/N2 ratios and thus impacted the redox state of the mantle as well as the timing of life’s origin; and (5) evidence of strong photochemical effects on Earth’s sulfur cycle, preserved in the form of mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation, and potentially linked to fractionation in organic carbon isotopes. The early Earth presents itself as an exoplanet analogue that can be explored through the existing rock record, allowing us to identify atmospheric signatures diagnostic of biological metabolisms that may be detectable on other inhabited planets with next-generation telescopes. We conclude that investigating the development of habitable conditions on terrestrial planets, an inherently complex problem, requires multi-disciplinary collaboration and creative solutions.

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Section: Geological Sources and Sinks Of Atmospheric Carbon And Nitrogenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mission to Planet Earth: The First Two Billion Years

et al. 2020

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“…First, the largest size of 2.7-Ga-old fossil raindrop imprints provides a conservative limit of paleopressure of <2.1 bar and a probable limit of <0.52 to 1.2 bar (57). [Criticism of the raindrop paleopressure constraint (137) is refuted in (138).] Second, the N 2 / 36 Ar ratio in fluid inclusions indicates pN 2 <1.0 bar [2s] at 3.3 Ga ago and <1.1 bar at 3.5 to 3.0 Ga ago (48,49).…”

Section: Archean Atmospheric Gasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Archean atmosphere

2020

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The atmosphere of the Archean eon—one-third of Earth’s history—is important for understanding the evolution of our planet and Earth-like exoplanets. New geological proxies combined with models constrain atmospheric composition. They imply surface O2 levels <10−6 times present, N2 levels that were similar to today or possibly a few times lower, and CO2 and CH4 levels ranging ~10 to 2500 and 102 to 104 times modern amounts, respectively. The greenhouse gas concentrations were sufficient to offset a fainter Sun. Climate moderation by the carbon cycle suggests average surface temperatures between 0° and 40°C, consistent with occasional glaciations. Isotopic mass fractionation of atmospheric xenon through the Archean until atmospheric oxygenation is best explained by drag of xenon ions by hydrogen escaping rapidly into space. These data imply that substantial loss of hydrogen oxidized the Earth. Despite these advances, detailed understanding of the coevolving solid Earth, biosphere, and atmosphere remains elusive, however.

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“…One possible origin of sands in L1, L3, and L5 might be blown sand because the grain size is generally small. However, the grain size of blown sand is well known to be finer than 1 phi (e.g., Inokuchi 1980;Goosemann et al 2018;Lämmel et al 2018), whereas L1, L3, and L5 all include considerable amounts of grains larger than 1 phi (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Radiocarbon Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Millennial paleotsunami history at Minna Island, southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan

Fujita

Goto

Iryu

et al. 2020

Prog Earth Planet Sci

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Huge tsunami waves have repeatedly bombarded the southern end of the Ryukyu Islands (Miyako and Yaeyama Islands, southwestern Japan) at several-hundred-year intervals. Therefore, clarifying the islands’ paleotsunami history is important for risk assessment. Nevertheless, discrepancies of paleotsunami histories exist among regional studies of tsunami boulders and sandy tsunami deposits. Radiocarbon ages of tsunami boulders indicate that tsunami events of the last 2400 years have occurred every 150–400 years, most recently the historical 1771 Meiwa tsunami. Sandy tsunami deposits at Yaeyama Islands show that four tsunami events of the last 2000 years struck the islands at approximately 600-year intervals. Sandy tsunami deposits of the Miyako Islands have been studied only rarely. Therefore, studying sandy tsunami deposits in the Miyako Islands is crucially important for clarifying the paleotsunami history of this region. We conducted a trench survey on Minna Island, located among the westernmost Miyako Islands, which revealed two sandy tsunami deposits under a coral tsunami boulder transported by the 1771 tsunami. The upper tsunami deposit was likely deposited by the 1771 tsunami, as inferred from stratigraphic correlation to the tsunami boulder. However, the lower tsunami deposit was probably deposited 700–1000 years ago, which is consistent with the age range of the paleotsunami reported for Yaeyama Islands. Because sandy tsunami deposits found in this and earlier studies are thick and deposited at high elevation and far inland, these are useful markers of large tsunami events similar to the 1771 event. However, the reported tsunami boulders of various sizes are deposited along the coast and reefs: they can be formed not only by large tsunami events but also by small ones. It is noteworthy that each tsunami deposit is coarse and thick (40–48 cm) relative to the island elevation (about 12 m maximum, 7 m above the mean sea level at the study site). By assuming that tsunamis have affected this region repeatedly during the past few thousand years at around 600-year intervals, tsunamis might have been important geomorphic agents for building up small reef-surrounded islands such as Minna Island.

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Eolianite Grain Size Distributions as a Proxy for Large Changes in Planetary Atmospheric Density

Cited by 13 publications

References 74 publications

Mission to Planet Earth: The First Two Billion Years

Mission to Planet Earth: The First Two Billion Years

The Archean atmosphere

Millennial paleotsunami history at Minna Island, southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan

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