Nitrogen-enhanced greenhouse warming on early Earth

Goldblatt, Colin; Claire, Mark; Lenton, Timothy M.; Matthews, Adrian J.; Watson, Andrew J.; Zahnle, Kevin

doi:10.1038/ngeo692

Cited by 273 publications

(291 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Biologically-mediated nitrogen burial goes back to at least 3.8 Gyr, potentially affecting the atmospheric N 2 reservoir (Goldblatt et al, 2009;Johnson and Goldblatt, 2015;Papineau et al, 2005;Som et al, 2016;Stüeken, in press;Stüeken et al, in review). Furthermore, biological N 2 O production may have been pronounced in the Proterozoic and possible in the early Paleozoic (Section 5.5, Buick, 2007a;Roberson et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This large nitrogen reservoir was most likely created by biologically-mediated draw-down of atmospheric N 2 . Interest in this question has surged with the development of paleobarometric proxies (Kavanagh and Goldblatt, 2015;Kite et al, 2014;Marty et al, 2013;Som et al, 2016;Som et al, 2012) and evidence for a decrease in N 2 pressure from >0.5 bar at 3.5 Gyr to <0.5 bar at 2.7 Gyr (Goldblatt et al, 2009;Marty et al, 2013;Som et al, 2016). A better understanding of biological nitrogen utilization in the past is therefore necessary to more accurately reconstruct atmospheric evolution.…”

Section: The Geologic Record Of Earth's Nitrogen Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The partial pressure of nitrogen gas (N 2 ) in the atmosphere controls the degree of pressure-broadening of greenhouse gas adsorption and thus surface temperature (Goldblatt et al, 2009). Moreover, some nitrogenous gaseous species are powerful greenhouse gases themselves, such as nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) (Byrne and Goldblatt, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The evolution of Earth's biogeochemical nitrogen cycle

Stüeken

Kipp

Koehler

et al. 2016

Earth-Science Reviews

328

287

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Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for all life on Earth and it acts as a major control on biological productivity in the modern ocean. Accurate reconstructions of the evolution of life over the course of the last four billion years therefore demand a better understanding of nitrogen bioavailability and speciation through time. The biogeochemical nitrogen cycle has evidently been closely tied to the redox state of the ocean and atmosphere. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the Earth"s surface has passed in a non-linear fashion from an anoxic state in the Hadean to an oxic state in the later Phanerozoic. It is therefore likely that the nitrogen cycle has changed markedly over time, with potentially severe implications for the productivity and evolution of the biosphere. Here we compile nitrogen isotope data from the literature and review our current understanding of the evolution of the nitrogen cycle, with particular emphasis on the Precambrian. Combined with recent work on redox conditions, trace metal availability, sulfur and iron cycling on the early Earth, we then use the nitrogen isotope record as a platform to test existing and new hypotheses about biogeochemical pathways that may have controlled nitrogen availability through time. Among other things, we conclude that (a) abiotic nitrogen sources were likely insufficient to sustain a large biosphere, thus favoring an early origin of biological N 2 fixation, (b) evidence of nitrate in the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic confirm current views of increasing surface oxygen levels at those times, (c) abundant ferrous iron and sulfide in the midPrecambrian ocean may have affected the speciation and size of the fixed nitrogen reservoir, and (d) nitrate availability alone was not a major driver of eukaryotic evolution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Geologic Record Of Earth's Nitrogen Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The evolution of Earth's biogeochemical nitrogen cycle

Stüeken

Kipp

Koehler

et al. 2016

Earth-Science Reviews

328

287

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“…One approach used in these models is to adjust the surface albedo in the model (e.g., Kasting et al 1993;Grenfell et al 2007b;Goldblatt et al 2009a) so that the models reproduce prescribed reference scenarios (e.g. modern Earth with a surface temperature of 288 K).…”

Section: Properties Of the Planet Gl 581dmentioning

confidence: 99%

The extrasolar planet Gliese 581d: a potentially habitable planet?

Paris

Gebauer

Godolt

et al. 2010

A&A

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Aims. The planetary system around the M star Gliese 581 contains at least three close-in potentially low-mass planets, Gl 581c, d, and e. In order to address the question of the habitability of Gl 581d, we performed detailed atmospheric modeling studies for several planetary scenarios. Methods. A 1D radiative-convective model was used to calculate temperature and pressure profiles of model atmospheres, which we assumed to be composed of molecular nitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide. The model allows for changing surface pressures caused by evaporation/condensation of water and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the treatment of the energy transport has been improved in the model to account in particular for high CO 2 , high-pressure Super-Earth conditions. Results. For four high-pressure scenarios of our study, the resulting surface temperatures were above 273 K, indicating a potential habitability of the planet. These scenarios include three CO 2 -dominated atmospheres (95% CO 2 concentration with 5, 10, and 20 bar surface pressure) and a high-pressure CO 2 -enriched atmosphere (5% CO 2 concentration with 20 bar surface pressure). For all other considered scenarios, the calculated Gl 581d surface temperatures were below the freezing point of water, suggesting that Gl 581d would not be habitable then. The results for our CO 2 -dominated scenarios confirm very recent model results by Wordsworth et al. (2010). However, our model calculations imply that also atmospheres that are not CO 2 -dominated (i.e., 5% vmr instead of 95% vmr) could result in habitable conditions for Gl 581d.

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“…However, the mantle has a large N inventory that is correlated with radiogenic 40 Ar but not primordial 36 Ar, indicating that it originated from subducted crust, where it had most likely been fixed biologically. It is therefore likely that on the pre-biotic / early Archean Earth, the atmospheric nitrogen content was around 2-3 times the present-day value (11).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%