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Tomkins AG, Bowlt L, Genge M, Wilson SA, Brand HEA, Wykes JL. Ancient micrometeorites suggestive of an oxygen-rich Archaean upper atmosphere. Nature 2016; 533:235-8. [PMID: 27172047 DOI: 10.1038/nature17678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2015] [Accepted: 03/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
It is widely accepted that Earth's early atmosphere contained less than 0.001 per cent of the present-day atmospheric oxygen (O2) level, until the Great Oxidation Event resulted in a major rise in O2 concentration about 2.4 billion years ago. There are multiple lines of evidence for low O2 concentrations on early Earth, but all previous observations relate to the composition of the lower atmosphere in the Archaean era; to date no method has been developed to sample the Archaean upper atmosphere. We have extracted fossil micrometeorites from limestone sedimentary rock that had accumulated slowly 2.7 billion years ago before being preserved in Australia's Pilbara region. We propose that these micrometeorites formed when sand-sized particles entered Earth's atmosphere and melted at altitudes of about 75 to 90 kilometres (given an atmospheric density similar to that of today). Here we show that the FeNi metal in the resulting cosmic spherules was oxidized while molten, and quench-crystallized to form spheres of interlocking dendritic crystals primarily of magnetite (Fe3O4), with wüstite (FeO)+metal preserved in a few particles. Our model of atmospheric micrometeorite oxidation suggests that Archaean upper-atmosphere oxygen concentrations may have been close to those of the present-day Earth, and that the ratio of oxygen to carbon monoxide was sufficiently high to prevent noticeable inhibition of oxidation by carbon monoxide. The anomalous sulfur isotope (Δ(33)S) signature of pyrite (FeS2) in seafloor sediments from this period, which requires an anoxic surface environment, implies that there may have been minimal mixing between the upper and lower atmosphere during the Archaean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew G Tomkins
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Lara Bowlt
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Matthew Genge
- Impact and Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2BT, UK
| | - Siobhan A Wilson
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Helen E A Brand
- Australian Synchrotron, 800 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
| | - Jeremy L Wykes
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia.,Australian Synchrotron, 800 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.,Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales 2113, Australia
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Ploeger F, Konopka P, Müller R, Fueglistaler S, Schmidt T, Manners JC, Grooß JU, Günther G, Forster PM, Riese M. Horizontal transport affecting trace gas seasonality in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/2011jd017267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Bergman JW, Jensen EJ, Pfister L, Yang Q. Seasonal differences of vertical-transport efficiency in the tropical tropopause layer: On the interplay between tropical deep convection, large-scale vertical ascent, and horizontal circulations. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/2011jd016992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Ray EA, Moore FL, Rosenlof KH, Davis SM, Boenisch H, Morgenstern O, Smale D, Rozanov E, Hegglin M, Pitari G, Mancini E, Braesicke P, Butchart N, Hardiman S, Li F, Shibata K, Plummer DA. Evidence for changes in stratospheric transport and mixing over the past three decades based on multiple data sets and tropical leaky pipe analysis. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1029/2010jd014206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Montoux N, Keckhut P, Hauchecorne A, Jumelet J, Brogniez H, David C. Isentropic modeling of a cirrus cloud event observed in the midlatitude upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1029/2009jd011981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Pisso I, Real E, Law KS, Legras B, Bousserez N, Attié JL, Schlager H. Estimation of mixing in the troposphere from Lagrangian trace gas reconstructions during long-range pollution plume transport. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.1029/2008jd011289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Boccara G, Hertzog A, Basdevant C, Vial F. Accuracy of NCEP/NCAR reanalyses and ECMWF analyses in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica in 2005. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008. [DOI: 10.1029/2008jd010116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Pirre M, Pisso I, Marécal V, Catoire V, Mébarki Y, Robert C. Intrusion of recent air in midlatitude stratosphere revealed by in situ tracer measurements and trajectory calculations. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008. [DOI: 10.1029/2007jd009188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Methven J, Arnold SR, Stohl A, Evans MJ, Avery M, Law K, Lewis AC, Monks PS, Parrish DD, Reeves CE, Schlager H, Atlas E, Blake DR, Coe H, Crosier J, Flocke FM, Holloway JS, Hopkins JR, McQuaid J, Purvis R, Rappenglück B, Singh HB, Watson NM, Whalley LK, Williams PI. Establishing Lagrangian connections between observations within air masses crossing the Atlantic during the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation experiment. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2006. [DOI: 10.1029/2006jd007540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J. Methven
- Department of Meteorology; University of Reading; Reading UK
| | - S. R. Arnold
- School of Earth and Environment; University of Leeds; Leeds UK
| | - A. Stohl
- Norwegian Institute for Air Research; Kjeller Norway
| | - M. J. Evans
- School of Earth and Environment; University of Leeds; Leeds UK
| | - M. Avery
- NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton Virginia USA
| | - K. Law
- Service d'Aéronomie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Paris France
| | - A. C. Lewis
- Department of Chemistry; University of York; York UK
| | - P. S. Monks
- Department of Chemistry; University of Leicester; Leicester UK
| | - D. D. Parrish
- Earth System Research Laboratory; NOAA; Boulder Colorado USA
| | - C. E. Reeves
- School of Environmental Sciences; University of East Anglia; Norwich UK
| | - H. Schlager
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; Oberpfaffenhofen Germany
| | - E. Atlas
- Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science; University of Miami; Miami Florida USA
| | - D. R. Blake
- Department of Chemistry; University of California; Irvine California USA
| | - H. Coe
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences; University of Manchester; Manchester UK
| | - J. Crosier
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences; University of Manchester; Manchester UK
| | - F. M. Flocke
- Atmospheric Chemistry Division; National Center for Atmospheric Research; Boulder Colorado USA
| | - J. S. Holloway
- Earth System Research Laboratory; NOAA; Boulder Colorado USA
| | - J. R. Hopkins
- Department of Chemistry; University of York; York UK
| | - J. McQuaid
- School of Earth and Environment; University of Leeds; Leeds UK
| | - R. Purvis
- Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements; Cranfield UK
| | - B. Rappenglück
- Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research; Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe; Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany
| | - H. B. Singh
- NASA Ames Research Center; Moffett Field California USA
| | - N. M. Watson
- Department of Chemistry; University of York; York UK
| | | | - P. I. Williams
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences; University of Manchester; Manchester UK
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