Oxygenation history of the Neoproterozoic to early Phanerozoic and the rise of land plants

Wallace, Malcolm W.; Hood, Ashleigh v.S.; Shuster, Alice; Greig, Alan; Planavsky, Noah J.; Reed, Christopher P.

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.02.046

Cited by 229 publications

(154 citation statements)

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“…Because carbonate cements can be chemically evolved from seawater, the geochemical analysis of bulk carbonate rock can contain components that reflect changes in primary seawater chemistry as well as components that reflect changes in pore fluid chemistry; it has been increasingly recognized that bulk geochemical analysis of carbonate rocks may skew a result due to the mixing of multiple geochemically distinct phases (Fike et al, ; Friedman & O'Neil, ; Givan & Lohmann, ; Lohmann & Walker, ; Swart, ;Tostevin et al, ; Wallace et al, ). Recent advances in laser ablation techniques have allowed microscale geochemical structure to be resolved and individual cement phases to be geochemically interrogated (Tostevin et al, ; Wallace et al, ). Well‐preserved, early marine carbonate cements can be hard to identify in the geological record as their identification requires significant petrographic and geochemical analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We chose this suite of measurements because they each can be a sensitive recorder of the geochemical changes that occur as you move from seawater to pore water or if the sample was influenced post deposition by meteoric water or broad mineral recrystallization. For example, the incorporation of various REEs into carbonate minerals can indicate precipitation in oxic versus suboxic conditions, where suboxic conditions are typical within sediments and in fluid that is evolved from the bottom water (German & Elderfield, ; Li et al, ; Wallace et al, ). In another example, oxygen isotope ratios and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr in carbonate minerals are sensitive to the influence of meteoric water, although oxygen isotope ratios in carbonate minerals also vary with temperature (Swart, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chemical Composition of Carbonate Hardground Cements as Reconstructive Tools for Phanerozoic Pore Fluids

Erhardt

Turchyn

Dickson

et al. 2020

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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In this study, we report the chemical composition of early carbonate cement precipitates in carbonate hardgrounds to understand the geochemical signature of near‐surface carbonate mineral precipitation. As carbonate hardgrounds lithify at or near the sediment‐water interface, they acquire cements that may be minimally evolved from paleoseawater. Using a suite of chemical measurements, we explore the potential of carbonate hardground cements as paleoenvironmental proxies. Trace metal and isotopic ratios, including some rare earth elements, Mg/Ca, manganese, and strontium concentrations, δ18O, δ13C, and 87Sr/86Sr, were analyzed in the carbonate cements from 17 Phanerozoic carbonate hardgrounds. The sensitivity of the geochemical signal to alteration depends on the geochemical analysis in question and the environmental water‐rock ratio. Of these samples, only our modern sample has measurements consistent with primary precipitation from seawater; all other samples precipitated from chemically evolved seawater or were influenced by meteoric water, even if only minimally changed. The more recent samples from the Cenozoic had seawater 87Sr/86Sr. The Mesozoic samples, in contrast, did not preserve seawater 87Sr/86Sr, even though the Mg/Ca, δ18O, and δ13C values were consistent with precipitation from seawater. Finally, the Paleozoic samples preserved expected seawater 87Sr/86Sr, though rare earth element and δ18O suggest primary precipitation was from evolved seawater. Additionally, we place our results in the context of open versus closed system precipitation using transects of the Mg/Ca ratios across individual cements. Overall, we stress that one geochemical measurement provides only a partial record of fluid composition, but multiple measurements allow a potential understanding of the seawater geochemical signal.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Composition of Carbonate Hardground Cements as Reconstructive Tools for Phanerozoic Pore Fluids

Erhardt

Turchyn

Dickson

et al. 2020

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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“…This view has been reinforced by long-term records of redox-sensitive crustal trace elements such as chromium (e.g., Babechuk, Kleinhanns, & Schoenberg, 2017;Konhauser et al, 2011;Murakami, Matsuura, & Kanzaki, 2016;Reinhard, Planavsky, Robbins, et al, 2013;Robbins et al, 2016). Atmospheric oxygen levels are typically assumed to have risen to near-modern levels during the Neoproterozoic (Holland, 2006) or the Paleozoic with the rise of land plants (Lenton, Daines, & Mills, 2018;Wallace et al, 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

A paleosol record of the evolution of Cr redox cycling and evidence for an increase in atmospheric oxygen during the Neoproterozoic

et al. 2019

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Atmospheric oxygen levels control the oxidative side of key biogeochemical cycles and place limits on the development of high‐energy metabolisms. Understanding Earth's oxygenation is thus critical to developing a clearer picture of Earth's long‐term evolution. However, there is currently vigorous debate about even basic aspects of the timing and pattern of the rise of oxygen. Chemical weathering in the terrestrial environment occurs in contact with the atmosphere, making paleosols potentially ideal archives to track the history of atmospheric O2 levels. Here we present stable chromium isotope data from multiple paleosols that offer snapshots of Earth surface conditions over the last three billion years. The results indicate a secular shift in the oxidative capacity of Earth's surface in the Neoproterozoic and suggest low atmospheric oxygen levels (<1% PAL pO2) through the majority of Earth's history. The paleosol record also shows that localized Cr oxidation may have begun as early as the Archean, but efficient, modern‐like transport of hexavalent Cr under an O2‐rich atmosphere did not become common until the Neoproterozoic.

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“…Critics might interject that O 2 levels began to rise before the first fossil occurrence of land plants 29 . We point out that nitrogenase limitation determines the maximum O 2 partial pressure near the water surface for nitrogenase-limited oxygen production.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If so, that was the first time (or possibly the first time since the Lomagundi excursion) that N-rich organic ocean floor sediment came into widespread contact with oxygenated water. This contact released organic N, leading to atmospheric O 2 increase, after which O 2 levels dropped once again 29,30 to the value imposed by the nitrogenase limit. Nitrogenase inhibition returns O 2 to low levels following O 2 increases, thus explaining an otherwise puzzling aspect of Proterozoic O 2 variation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nitrogenase inhibition limited oxygenation of the Proterozoic atmosphere

Allen

Thake²,

Martin

2018

Preprint

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Cyanobacteria produced the atmospheric O2 that began accumulating 2.4 billion years ago1, leading to Earth’s Great Oxidation Event (GOE)2. For nearly 2 billion years following the GOE, O2 production was restricted and atmospheric oxygen remained low2–5. Oxygen rose again sharply with the advent of land plants roughly 450 million years ago, which increased atmospheric O2 through carbon burial4–5. Why did the O2 content of the atmosphere remain constant and low for more than a billion years despite the existence of O2-producing cyanobacteria? While geological limitations have been explored2–7, the limiting factor may have been biological, and enzymatic. Here we propose that O2 was kept low by oxygen inhibition of nitrogenase activity. Nitrogenase is the sole N2-fixing enzyme on Earth, and is inactive in air containing 2% or more O2 by volume8. No O2-resistant nitrogenase enzyme is known9–12. We further propose that nitrogenase inhibition by O2 kept atmospheric O2 low until upright terrestrial plants physically separated O2 production in aerial photosynthetic tissues from N2 fixation in soil, liberating nitrogenase from inhibition by atmospheric O2.

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Oxygenation history of the Neoproterozoic to early Phanerozoic and the rise of land plants

Cited by 229 publications

References 48 publications

Chemical Composition of Carbonate Hardground Cements as Reconstructive Tools for Phanerozoic Pore Fluids

Chemical Composition of Carbonate Hardground Cements as Reconstructive Tools for Phanerozoic Pore Fluids

A paleosol record of the evolution of Cr redox cycling and evidence for an increase in atmospheric oxygen during the Neoproterozoic

Nitrogenase inhibition limited oxygenation of the Proterozoic atmosphere

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