Nitrogen Isotopic Composition and Density of the Archean Atmosphere

Marty, Bernard; Zimmermann, Laurent; Pujol, Magali; Burgess, R.; Philippot, Pascal

doi:10.1126/science.1240971

Cited by 180 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…50 °C) can be obtained by combining P N2 and P CO2 of 0.5 bar (Supplementary Information). Such atmospheric pressures are not in contradiction with measurements of N 2 / 36 Ar in Archean hydrothermal fluids (Marty et al, 2013) and studies of fossil imprints of 2.7 Ga rain droplets (Som et al, 2012), which suggest maximum P N2 = 1.1 bar and P CO2 = 0.7 bar around 3.0-3.5 Ga (Marty et al, 2013). Finally, the progressive decrease of surface T reconstructed from the chert record is inversely correlated with progressive emerging of the continents since ca.…”

Section: Implications For Surface Temperatures On the Earth During Thmentioning

confidence: 51%

Warm Archaean oceans reconstructed from oxygen isotope composition of early-life remnants

Tartèse¹,

Chaussidon²,

Gurenko³

et al. 2016

Geochem. Persp. Let.

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doi: 10.7185/geochemlet.1706 Deciphering the surface conditions on the Earth during Archean times (> 2.5 billion years ago -Ga) is crucial to constrain the conditions that promoted the development of life. The progressive shift through time of the oxygen isotopic compositions of Precambrian siliceous sediments -the so-called cherts -has been interpreted as indicating a secular decrease of seawater temperature by 50-80 °C from the early Archean to the present-day. However, this interpretation has been questioned, notably because it assumes that the seawater oxygen isotopic composition has remained globally constant since 3.5 Ga, though this has never been tested by direct isotopic measurements on Archean samples. Here we report measurements of the oxygen isotopic composition of carbonaceous matter indigenous to Precambrian cherts up to ca. 3.5 Ga. These new results demonstrate that the oxygen isotope composition of seawater during most of the Precambrian remained around 0 ± 5 ‰, which is consistent with the composition of present day seawater. Combined with the chert oxygen isotope composition record, this indicates that ca. 3.5 Ga ago ocean bottom-water temperatures were ~50-60 °C higher than today.

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Section: Implications For Surface Temperatures On the Earth During Thmentioning

confidence: 51%

Warm Archaean oceans reconstructed from oxygen isotope composition of early-life remnants

Tartèse¹,

Chaussidon²,

Gurenko³

et al. 2016

Geochem. Persp. Let.

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“…The geological evidence from 2.8 -3.5 Ga is consistent with an atmosphere with similar atmospheric pressure as modern Earth (Som et al 2012;Marty et al 2013). Therefore, we use one bar for the surface pressure for all epochs.…”

Section: Simulation Set-upmentioning

confidence: 98%

Uv Surface Environment of Earth-Like Planets Orbiting FGKM Stars Through Geological Evolution

Rugheimer

Segura

Kaltenegger

et al. 2015

ApJ

128

253

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The UV environment of a host star affects the photochemistry in the atmosphere, and ultimately the surface UV environment for terrestrial planets and therefore the conditions for the origin and evolution of life. We model the surface UV radiation environment for Earth-sized planets orbiting FGKM stars at the 1AU equivalent distance for Earth through its geological evolution. We explore four different types of atmospheres corresponding to an early Earth atmosphere at 3.9 Gyr ago and three atmospheres covering the rise of oxygen to present day levels at 2.0 Gyr ago, 0.8 Gyr ago and modern Earth (following Kaltenegger et al. 2007). In addition to calculating the UV flux on the surface of the planet, we model the biologically effective irradiance, using DNA damage as a proxy for biological damage. We find that a pre-biotic Earth (3.9 Gyr ago) orbiting an F0V star receives 6 times the biologically effective radiation as around the early Sun and 3520 times the modern EarthSun levels. A pre-biotic Earth orbiting GJ 581 (M3.5V) receives 300 times less biologically effective radiation, about 2 times modern Earth-Sun levels. The UV fluxes calculated here provide a grid of model UV environments during the evolution of an Earth-like planet orbiting a range of stars. These models can be used as inputs into photo-biological experiments and for pre-biotic chemistry and early life evolution experiments.

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“…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 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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Nitrogen Isotopic Composition and Density of the Archean Atmosphere

Cited by 180 publications

References 39 publications

Warm Archaean oceans reconstructed from oxygen isotope composition of early-life remnants

Warm Archaean oceans reconstructed from oxygen isotope composition of early-life remnants

Uv Surface Environment of Earth-Like Planets Orbiting FGKM Stars Through Geological Evolution

The evolution of Earth's biogeochemical nitrogen cycle

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