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Rasmussen B, Muhling JR, Tosca NJ. Nanoparticulate apatite and greenalite in oldest, well-preserved hydrothermal vent precipitates. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadj4789. [PMID: 38277446 PMCID: PMC10816723 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj4789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Paleoarchean jaspilites are used to track ancient ocean chemistry and photoautotrophy because they contain hematite interpreted to have formed following biological oxidation of vent-derived Fe(II) and seawater P-scavenging. However, recent studies have triggered debate about ancient seawater Fe and P deposition. Here, we report greenalite and fluorapatite (FAP) nanoparticles in the oldest, well-preserved jaspilites from the ~3.5-billion-year Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Australia. We argue that both phases are vent plume particles, whereas coexisting hematite is linked to secondary oxidation. Geochemical modeling predicts that hydrothermal alteration of seafloor basalts by anoxic, sulfate-free seawater releases Fe(II) and P that simultaneously precipitate as greenalite and FAP upon venting. The formation, transport, and preservation of FAP nanoparticles indicate that seawater P concentrations were ≥1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher than in modern deepwater. We speculate that Archean seafloor vents were nanoparticle "factories" that, on prebiotic Earth, produced countless Fe(II)- and P-rich templates available for catalysis and biosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Birger Rasmussen
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Janet R. Muhling
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Nicholas J. Tosca
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
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Alt JC. Subseafloor Processes in Mid-Ocean Ridge Hydrothennal Systems. SEAFLOOR HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEMS: PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND GEOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS 2013. [DOI: 10.1029/gm091p0085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Schiffman P, Smith BM. Petrology and oxygen isotope geochemistry of a fossil seawater hydrothermal system within the Solea graben, northern Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/jb093ib05p04612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Nehlig P, Juteau T, Bendel V, Cotten J. The root zones of oceanic hydrothermal systems: Constraints from the Samail ophiolite (Oman). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/93jb02663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Coulton AJ, Harper GD, O'Hanley DS. Oceanic versus emplacement age serpentinization in the Josephine ophiolite: Implications for the nature of the Moho at intermediate and slow spreading ridges. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/95jb02157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Zierenberg RA, Shanks WC, Seyfried WE, Koski RA, Strickler MD. Mineralization, alteration, and hydrothermal metamorphism of the ophiolite-hosted Turner-Albright sulfide deposit, southwestern Oregon. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/jb093ib05p04657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Morgan JP, Chen YJ. The genesis of oceanic crust: Magma injection, hydrothermal circulation, and crustal flow. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/92jb02650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 418] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Kimball KL. High-temperature hydrothermal alteration of ultrmafic cumulates from the base of the sheeted dikes in the Josephine ophiolite, NW California. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/jb093ib05p04675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Gillis KM, Thompson G, Kelley DS. A view of the lower crustal component of hydrothermal systems at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/93jb01717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Harper GD, Saleeby JB, Heizler M. Formation and emplacement of the Josephine ophiolite and the Nevadan orogeny in the Klamath Mountains, California-Oregon: U/Pb zircon and40Ar/39Ar geochronology. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/93jb02061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Bebout GE. Field-based evidence for devolatilization in subduction zones: implications for arc magmatism. Science 2010; 251:413-6. [PMID: 17775106 DOI: 10.1126/science.251.4992.413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Metamorphic rocks on Santa Catalina Island, California, afford examination of fluid-related processes at depths of 15 to 45 kilometers in an Early Cretaceous subduction zone. A combination of field, stable isotope, and volatile content data for the Catalina Schist indicates kilometer-scale transport of large amounts of water-rich fluid with uniform oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions. The fluids were liberated in devolatilizing, relatively low-temperature (400 degrees to 600 degrees C) parts of the subduction zone, primarily by chlorite-breakdown reactions. An evaluation of pertinent phase equilibria indicates that chlorite in mafic and sedimentary rocks and melange may stabilize a large volatile component to great depths (perhaps >100 kilometers), depending on the thermal structure of the subduction zone. This evidence for deep volatile subduction and large-scale flow of slab-derived, water-rich fluids lends credence to models that invoke fluid addition to sites of arc magma genesis.
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Muehlenbachs K, Furnes H, Fonneland HC, Hellevang B. Ophiolites as faithful records of the oxygen isotope ratio of ancient seawater: the Solund-Stavfjord Ophiolite Complex as a Late Ordovician example. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2003. [DOI: 10.1144/gsl.sp.2003.218.01.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractFragments of the Ordovician sea floor preserved in the Solund-Stavfjord Ophiolite Complex in Western Norway serve as proxies for the δ18O of Ordovician seawater. The pillow basalt sections at Oldra and Strand are both enriched in 18O, recording their alteration by seawater at low temperature on the sea floor. In contrast, the sheeted dykes and gabbros generally are depleted of 18O, reflecting the modal proportion of secondary, low-18O chlorite and epidote formed from seawater at high temperature. These isotopic contrasts simply reflect the high water to rock ratio of sea-floor alteration and the temperature dependence of the 18O partitioning between minerals and water. Superposition of high-δ18O pillows on low-δ18O dykes and gabbros is a necessary consequence of alteration at both low and high temperatures by a fluid near 0‰ and is easily recognized in well-preserved ophiolites. Also, the δ18O of seawater can be independently calculated from 18O fractionations among secondary minerals. Older, dismembered and highly metamorphosed segments of the oceanic crust may still retain the original seawater imprint because their subsequent obduction and metamorphism was relatively closed to external fluids. Suites of diamond-bearing nodules from kimberlites still have contrasting high- and low-δ18O eclogites, proving that even subduction into the mantle is not sufficient to erase the seawater fingerprint. Inspection of the sea-floor, ophiolite and eclogite data reveals no secular trend in δ18O, indicating that the δ18O of seawater has not changed with geological age. Because the δ18O of seawater itself is fixed by sea-floor-seawater exchange, the constancy of δ18O of seawater implies that the scale and style of sea-floor-seawater interactions has not changed over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karlis Muehlenbachs
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G OE2, Canada
| | - Harald Furnes
- Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen
Allegt. 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
| | - Hege C. Fonneland
- Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen
Allegt. 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
| | - Bjarte Hellevang
- Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen
Allegt. 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
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Gillis KM, Muehlenbachs K, Stewart M, Gleeson T, Karson J. Fluid flow patterns in fast spreading East Pacific Rise crust exposed at Hess Deep. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2001. [DOI: 10.1029/2000jb000038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Kawahata H, Nohara M, Ishizuka H, Hasebe S, Chiba H. Sr isotope geochemistry and hydrothermal alteration of the Oman ophiolite. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2001. [DOI: 10.1029/2000jb900456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Alt JC, Teagle DAH, Brewer T, Shanks WC, Halliday A. Alteration and mineralization of an oceanic forearc and the ophiolite-ocean crust analogy. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1998. [DOI: 10.1029/98jb00598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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A mechanism for decoupling within the oceanic lithosphere revealed in the Troodos ophiolite. Nature 1995. [DOI: 10.1038/374232a0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Alexander RJ, Harper GD, Bowman JR. Oceanic faulting and fault-controlled subseafloor hydrothermal alteration in the sheeted dike complex of the Josephine Ophiolite. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1993. [DOI: 10.1029/92jb01413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Stakes DS, Taylor HP. The Northern Samail Ophiolite: An Oxygen isotope, microprobe, and field study. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1992. [DOI: 10.1029/91jb02743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [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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Hydrothermal Metamorphism in Oceanic Crust from the Coast Range Ophiolite of California: Fluid-Rock Interaction in a Rifted Island Arc. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1991. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-011-3358-6_20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
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Sleep NH. Hydrothermal circulation, anhydrite precipitation, and thermal structure at ridge axes. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1991. [DOI: 10.1029/90jb02335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Shock EL. Geochemical constraints on the origin of organic compounds in hydrothermal systems. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 1990. [DOI: 10.1007/bf01808115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 145] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Gillis KM, Robinson PT. Patterns and processes of alteration in the lavas and dykes of the Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1990. [DOI: 10.1029/jb095ib13p21523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 98] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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