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Lissenberg CJ, McCaig AM, Lang SQ, Blum P, Abe N, Brazelton WJ, Coltat R, Deans JR, Dickerson KL, Godard M, John BE, Klein F, Kuehn R, Lin KY, Liu H, Lopes EL, Nozaka T, Parsons AJ, Pathak V, Reagan MK, Robare JA, Savov IP, Schwarzenbach EM, Sissmann OJ, Southam G, Wang F, Wheat CG, Anderson L, Treadwell S. A long section of serpentinized depleted mantle peridotite. Science 2024; 385:623-629. [PMID: 39116218 DOI: 10.1126/science.adp1058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
The upper mantle is critical for our understanding of terrestrial magmatism, crust formation, and element cycling between Earth's solid interior, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Mantle composition and evolution have been primarily inferred by surface sampling and indirect methods. We recovered a long (1268-meter) section of serpentinized abyssal mantle peridotite interleaved with thin gabbroic intrusions. We find depleted compositions with notable variations in mantle mineralogy controlled by melt flow. Dunite zones have predominantly intermediate dips, in contrast to the originally steep mantle fabrics, indicative of oblique melt transport. Extensive hydrothermal fluid-rock interaction is recorded across the full depth of the core and is overprinted by oxidation in the upper 200 meters. Alteration patterns are consistent with vent fluid composition in the nearby Lost City hydrothermal field.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Johan Lissenberg
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Andrew M McCaig
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Susan Q Lang
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - Peter Blum
- International Ocean Discovery Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Natsue Abe
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan
| | | | - Rémi Coltat
- Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-UGR, Granada, Spain
| | - Jeremy R Deans
- School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA
| | - Kristin L Dickerson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Marguerite Godard
- Geosciences Montpellier, CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Barbara E John
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Frieder Klein
- Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - Rebecca Kuehn
- Institute of Geosciences and Geography, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - Kuan-Yu Lin
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Haiyang Liu
- Center of Deep Sea Research, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China
| | - Ethan L Lopes
- Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Toshio Nozaka
- Department of Earth Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
| | - Andrew J Parsons
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
| | - Vamdev Pathak
- Department of Geology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India
| | - Mark K Reagan
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Jordyn A Robare
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Ivan P Savov
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | | | | | - Gordon Southam
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia
| | - Fengping Wang
- Key Laboratory of Polar Ecosystem and Climate Change, Ministry of Education; and School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
| | - C Geoffrey Wheat
- Global Undersea Research Unit, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Moss Landing, CA, USA
| | | | - Sarah Treadwell
- Department of Communication, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA
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2
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Christensen M, Adams D, Wong ML, Dunn P, Yung YL. New Estimates of Nitrogen Fixation on Early Earth. Life (Basel) 2024; 14:601. [PMID: 38792622 PMCID: PMC11122333 DOI: 10.3390/life14050601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Revised: 04/10/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Fixed nitrogen species generated by the early Earth's atmosphere are thought to be critical to the emergence of life and the sustenance of early metabolisms. A previous study estimated nitrogen fixation in the Hadean Earth's N2/CO2-dominated atmosphere; however, that previous study only considered a limited chemical network that produces NOx species (i.e., no HCN formation) via the thermochemical dissociation of N2 and CO2 in lightning flashes, followed by photochemistry. Here, we present an updated model of nitrogen fixation on Hadean Earth. We use the Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) thermochemical model to estimate lightning-induced NO and HCN formation and an updated version of KINETICS, the 1-D Caltech/JPL photochemical model, to assess the photochemical production of fixed nitrogen species that rain out into the Earth's early ocean. Our updated photochemical model contains hydrocarbon and nitrile chemistry, and we use a Geant4 simulation platform to consider nitrogen fixation stimulated by solar energetic particle deposition throughout the atmosphere. We study the impact of a novel reaction pathway for generating HCN via HCN2, inspired by the experimental results which suggest that reactions with CH radicals (from CH4 photolysis) may facilitate the incorporation of N into the molecular structure of aerosols. When the HCN2 reactions are added, we find that the HCN rainout rate rises by a factor of five in our 1-bar case and is about the same in our 2- and 12-bar cases. Finally, we estimate the equilibrium concentration of fixed nitrogen species under a kinetic steady state in the Hadean ocean, considering loss by hydrothermal vent circulation, photoreduction, and hydrolysis. These results inform our understanding of environments that may have been relevant to the formation of life on Earth, as well as processes that could lead to the emergence of life elsewhere in the universe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeline Christensen
- Bellarmine Preparatory Marine Chemistry Program, Tacoma, WA 98405, USA
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Danica Adams
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- NHFP Sagan Fellow, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Michael L. Wong
- NHFP Sagan Fellow, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015, USA
| | - Patrick Dunn
- Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;
| | - Yuk L. Yung
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
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3
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Stern RJ, Gerya TV. The importance of continents, oceans and plate tectonics for the evolution of complex life: implications for finding extraterrestrial civilizations. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8552. [PMID: 38609425 PMCID: PMC11015018 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54700-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Within the uncertainties of involved astronomical and biological parameters, the Drake Equation typically predicts that there should be many exoplanets in our galaxy hosting active, communicative civilizations (ACCs). These optimistic calculations are however not supported by evidence, which is often referred to as the Fermi Paradox. Here, we elaborate on this long-standing enigma by showing the importance of planetary tectonic style for biological evolution. We summarize growing evidence that a prolonged transition from Mesoproterozoic active single lid tectonics (1.6 to 1.0 Ga) to modern plate tectonics occurred in the Neoproterozoic Era (1.0 to 0.541 Ga), which dramatically accelerated emergence and evolution of complex species. We further suggest that both continents and oceans are required for ACCs because early evolution of simple life must happen in water but late evolution of advanced life capable of creating technology must happen on land. We resolve the Fermi Paradox (1) by adding two additional terms to the Drake Equation: foc (the fraction of habitable exoplanets with significant continents and oceans) and fpt (the fraction of habitable exoplanets with significant continents and oceans that have had plate tectonics operating for at least 0.5 Ga); and (2) by demonstrating that the product of foc and fpt is very small (< 0.00003-0.002). We propose that the lack of evidence for ACCs reflects the scarcity of long-lived plate tectonics and/or continents and oceans on exoplanets with primitive life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J Stern
- Department of Sustainable Earth Systems Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, 75083-0688, USA
| | - Taras V Gerya
- Department of Earth Sciences, ETH-Zurich, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
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Vilović I, Schulze-Makuch D, Heller R. Variations in climate habitability parameters and their effect on Earth's biosphere during the Phanerozoic Eon. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12663. [PMID: 37542097 PMCID: PMC10403619 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39716-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Essential insights on the characterization and quality of a detectable biosphere are gained by analyzing the effects of its environmental parameters. We compiled environmental and biological properties of the Phanerozoic Eon from various published data sets and conducted a correlation analysis to assess variations in parameters relevant to the habitability of Earth's biosphere. We showed that environmental parameters such as oxygen, global average surface temperatures, runoff rates and carbon dioxide are interrelated and play a key role in the changes of biomass and biodiversity. We showed that there were several periods with a highly thriving biosphere, with one even surpassing present day biodiversity and biomass. Those periods were characterized by increased oxygen levels and global runoff rates, as well as moderate global average surface temperatures, as long as no large or rapid positive and/or negative temperature excursions occurred. High oxygen contents are diagnostic of biomass production by continental plant life. We find that exceptionally high oxygen levels can at least in one instance compensate for decreased relative humidities, providing an even more habitable environment compared to today. Beyond Earth, these results will help us to understand how environmental parameters affect biospheres on extrasolar planets and guide us in our search for extraterrestrial life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iva Vilović
- Astrobiology Research Group, Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Astrobiology Research Group, Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623, Berlin, Germany
- GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
- Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), 16775, Stechlin, Germany
- School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
| | - René Heller
- Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
- Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
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5
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Farr O, Hao J, Liu W, Fehon N, Reinfelder JR, Yee N, Falkowski PG. Archean phosphorus recycling facilitated by ultraviolet radiation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2307524120. [PMID: 37459508 PMCID: PMC10372543 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2307524120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Of the six elements incorporated into the major polymers of life, phosphorus is the least abundant on a global scale [E. Anders, M. Ebihara, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 46, 2363-2380 (1982)] and has been described as the "ultimate limiting nutrient" [T. Tyrrell, Nature 400, 525-531 (1999)]. In the modern ocean, the supply of dissolved phosphorus is predominantly sustained by the oxidative remineralization/recycling of organic phosphorus in seawater. However, in the Archean Eon (4 to 2.5 Ga), surface waters were anoxic and reducing. Here, we conducted photochemical experiments to test whether photodegradation of ubiquitous dissolved organic phosphorus could facilitate phosphorus recycling under the simulated Archean conditions. Our results strongly suggest that organic phosphorus compounds, which were produced by marine biota (e.g., adenosine monophosphate and phosphatidylserine) or delivered by meteorites (e.g., methyl phosphonate) can undergo rapid photodegradation and release inorganic phosphate into solution under anoxic conditions. Our experimental results and theoretical calculations indicate that photodegradation of organic phosphorus could have been a significant source of bioavailable phosphorus in the early ocean and would have fueled primary production during the Archean eon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orion Farr
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ08854-8066
- Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille (UMR 7325 CNRS), Aix Marseille Université, Campus de Luminy – Case 913, Marseille Cedex 0913288, France
| | - Jihua Hao
- Deep Space Exploration Laboratory/Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei230026, China
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ08901
| | - Winnie Liu
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ08854-8066
| | - Nolan Fehon
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ08901
| | - John R. Reinfelder
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ08901
| | - Nathan Yee
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ08854-8066
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ08901
| | - Paul G. Falkowski
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ08854-8066
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ08901
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6
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Boulila S, Peters SE, Müller RD, Haq BU, Hara N. Earth's interior dynamics drive marine fossil diversity cycles of tens of millions of years. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2221149120. [PMID: 37428908 PMCID: PMC10629558 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221149120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The fossil record reveals that biotic diversity has fluctuated quasi-cyclically through geological time. However, the causal mechanisms of biotic diversity cycles remain unexplained. Here, we highlight a common, correlatable 36 ± 1 Myr (million years) cycle in the diversity of marine genera as well as in tectonic, sea-level, and macrostratigraphic data over the past 250 Myr of Earth history. The prominence of the 36 ± 1 Myr cycle in tectonic data favors a common-cause mechanism, wherein geological forcing mechanisms drive patterns in both biological diversity and the preserved rock record. In particular, our results suggest that a 36 ± 1 Myr tectono-eustatically driven sea-level cycle may originate from the interaction between the convecting mantle and subducting slabs, thereby pacing mantle-lithospheric deep-water recycling. The 36 ± 1 Myr tectono-eustatic driver of biodiversity is likely related to cyclic continental inundations, with expanding and contracting ecological niches on shelves and in epeiric seas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Slah Boulila
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris, ParisF-75005, France
- Astronomie et Systèmes Dynamiques/Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides, CNRS-UMR8028, Observatoire de Paris, Paris Sciences & Lettres University, Sorbonne Université, Paris75014, France
| | - Shanan E. Peters
- Department of Geoscience, University of Madison, Madison, WI53706
| | - R. Dietmar Müller
- EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW2006, Australia
| | - Bilal U. Haq
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris, ParisF-75005, France
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington,DC20024
| | - Nathan Hara
- Département d’astronomie, Université de Genève, Genève1290, Switzerland
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7
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Walton CR, Hao J, Huang F, Jenner FE, Williams H, Zerkle AL, Lipp A, Hazen RM, Peters SE, Shorttle O. Evolution of the crustal phosphorus reservoir. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade6923. [PMID: 37146138 PMCID: PMC10162663 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade6923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
The release of phosphorus (P) from crustal rocks during weathering plays a key role in determining the size of Earth's biosphere, yet the concentration of P in crustal rocks over time remains controversial. Here, we combine spatial, temporal, and chemical measurements of preserved rocks to reconstruct the lithological and chemical evolution of Earth's continental crust. We identify a threefold increase in average crustal P concentrations across the Neoproterozoic-Phanerozoic boundary (600 to 400 million years), showing that preferential biomass burial on shelves acted to progressively concentrate P within continental crust. Rapid compositional change was made possible by massive removal of ancient P-poor rock and deposition of young P-rich sediment during an episode of enhanced global erosion. Subsequent weathering of newly P-rich crust led to increased riverine P fluxes to the ocean. Our results suggest that global erosion coupled to sedimentary P-enrichment forged a markedly nutrient-rich crust at the dawn of the Phanerozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Craig R Walton
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Jihua Hao
- Deep Space Exploration Lab/CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Rd., Hefei 230026, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Rd., Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Fang Huang
- CSIRO Mineral Resources, Kensington WA 6151, Australia
| | - Frances E Jenner
- School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
| | - Helen Williams
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Aubrey L Zerkle
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA 98154, USA
| | - Alex Lipp
- Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Robert M Hazen
- Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA
| | - Shanan E Peters
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Oliver Shorttle
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA, UK
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8
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Kobayashi K, Ise JI, Aoki R, Kinoshita M, Naito K, Udo T, Kunwar B, Takahashi JI, Shibata H, Mita H, Fukuda H, Oguri Y, Kawamura K, Kebukawa Y, Airapetian VS. Formation of Amino Acids and Carboxylic Acids in Weakly Reducing Planetary Atmospheres by Solar Energetic Particles from the Young Sun. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:life13051103. [PMID: 37240748 DOI: 10.3390/life13051103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Life most likely started during the Hadean Eon; however, the environmental conditions which contributed to the complexity of its chemistry are poorly known. A better understanding of various environmental conditions, including global (heliospheric) and local (atmospheric, surface, and oceanic), along with the internal dynamic conditions of the early Earth, are required to understand the onset of abiogenesis. Herein, we examine the contributions of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) associated with superflares from the young Sun to the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids in weakly reduced gas mixtures representing the early Earth's atmosphere. We also compare the products with those introduced by lightning events and solar ultraviolet light (UV). In a series of laboratory experiments, we detected and characterized the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids via proton irradiation of a mixture of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and water in various mixing ratios. These experiments show the detection of amino acids after acid hydrolysis when 0.5% (v/v) of initial methane was introduced to the gas mixture. In the set of experiments with spark discharges (simulation of lightning flashes) performed for the same gas mixture, we found that at least 15% methane was required to detect the formation of amino acids, and no amino acids were detected in experiments via UV irradiation, even when 50% methane was used. Carboxylic acids were formed in non-reducing gas mixtures (0% methane) by proton irradiation and spark discharges. Hence, we suggest that GCRs and SEP events from the young Sun represent the most effective energy sources for the prebiotic formation of biologically important organic compounds from weakly reducing atmospheres. Since the energy flux of space weather, which generated frequent SEPs from the young Sun in the first 600 million years after the birth of the solar system, was expected to be much greater than that of GCRs, we conclude that SEP-driven energetic protons are the most promising energy sources for the prebiotic production of bioorganic compounds in the atmosphere of the Hadean Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kensei Kobayashi
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Jun-Ichi Ise
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Ryohei Aoki
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Miei Kinoshita
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Koki Naito
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Takumi Udo
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Bhagawati Kunwar
- Chubu Institute of Advanced Studies, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai 487-8501, Japan
| | - Jun-Ichi Takahashi
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Hiromi Shibata
- SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), Osaka University, Ibaraki 567-0047, Japan
| | - Hajime Mita
- Department of Life, Environment and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Fukuoka 811-0295, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Fukuda
- Open Facility Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Oguri
- Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Kimitaka Kawamura
- Chubu Institute of Advanced Studies, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai 487-8501, Japan
| | - Yoko Kebukawa
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
| | - Vladimir S Airapetian
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Sellers Exoplanetary Environments Collaboration, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Department of Physics, American University, Washington, DC 20016, USA
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
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9
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Stevenson DS. A New Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective on the Emergence of Oxygenic Photosynthesis. ASTROBIOLOGY 2023; 23:230-237. [PMID: 36413050 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2021.0165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
In this hypothesis article, we propose that the timing of the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis and the diversification of cyanobacteria is firmly tied to the geological evolution of Earth in the Mesoarchean to Neoarchean. Specifically, the diversification of species capable of oxygenic photosynthesis is tied to the growth of subaerial (above sea-level/terrestrial) continental crust, which provided niches for their diversification. Moreover, we suggest that some formerly aerobic bacterial lineages evolved to become anoxygenic photosynthetic as a result of changes in selection following the reintroduction of ferruginous conditions in the oceans at 1.88 GYa. Both conclusions are fully compatible with phylogenetic evidence. The hypothesis carries with it a predictive component-at least for terrestrial organisms-that the development and expansion of photosynthesis species was dependent on the geological evolution of Earth.
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10
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Oxygen isotope (δ 18O, Δ' 17O) insights into continental mantle evolution since the Archean. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3779. [PMID: 35788136 PMCID: PMC9253152 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31586-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Oxygen isotopic ratios are largely homogenous in the bulk of Earth’s mantle but are strongly fractionated near the Earth’s surface, thus these are robust indicators of recycling of surface materials to the mantle. Here we document a subtle but significant ~0.2‰ temporal decrease in δ18O in the shallowest continental lithospheric mantle since the Archean, no change in Δ′17O is observed. Younger samples document a decrease and greater heterogeneity of δ18O due to the development and progression of plate tectonics and subduction. We posit that δ18O in the oldest Archean samples provides the best δ18O estimate for the Earth of 5.37‰ for olivine and 5.57‰ for bulk peridotite, values that are comparable to lunar rocks as the moon did not have plate tectonics. Given the large volume of the continental lithospheric mantle, even small decreases in its δ18O may explain the increasing δ18O of the continental crust since oxygen is progressively redistributed by fluids between these reservoirs via high-δ18O sediment accretion and low-δ18O mantle in subduction zones. The 18 O/16 O ratio of the subcontinental mantle has decreased by 0.2‰, while crustal values increased by 4‰ via fluid transfer since the Archean due to the initiation of plate tectonics and subduction, in line with the crust-upper mantle mass balance
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11
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Hao J, Liu W, Goff JL, Steadman JA, Large RR, Falkowski PG, Yee N. Anoxic photochemical weathering of pyrite on Archean continents. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabn2226. [PMID: 35767603 PMCID: PMC9242442 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn2226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Sulfur is an essential element of life that is assimilated by Earth's biosphere through the chemical breakdown of pyrite. On the early Earth, pyrite weathering by atmospheric oxygen was severely limited, and low marine sulfate concentrations persisted for much of the Archean eon. Here, we show an anoxic photochemical mechanism of pyrite weathering that could have provided substantial amounts of sulfate to the oceans as continents formed in the late Archean. Pyrite grains suspended in anoxic ferrous iron solutions produced millimolar sulfate concentrations when irradiated with ultraviolet light. The Fe2+(aq) was photooxidized, which, in turn, led to the chemical oxidation of pyritic sulfur. Additional experiments conducted with 2.68 Ga shale demonstrated that photochemically derived ferric iron oxidizes and dissolves sedimentary pyrite during chemical weathering. The results suggest that before the rise of atmospheric oxygen, oxidative pyrite weathering on Archean continents was controlled by the exposure of land to sunlight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jihua Hao
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Winnie Liu
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Jennifer L. Goff
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Jeffrey A. Steadman
- CODES, Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
| | - Ross R. Large
- CODES, Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
| | - Paul G. Falkowski
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Nathan Yee
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
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12
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McNamara JC, Freire CA. Strategies of Invertebrate Osmoregulation: an Evolutionary Blueprint for Transmuting Into Fresh Water from the Sea. Integr Comp Biol 2022; 62:376-387. [PMID: 35671173 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icac081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Revised: 05/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Early marine invertebrates like the Branchiopoda began their sojourn into dilute media some 500 million years ago in the Middle Cambrian. Others like the Mollusca, Annelida and many crustacean taxa have followed, accompanying major marine transgressions and regressions, shifting landmasses, orogenies, and glaciations. In adapting to these events and new habitats, such invertebrates acquired novel physiological abilities that attenuate the ion loss and water gain that constitute severe challenges to life in dilute media. Among these taxon-specific adaptations, selected from the subcellular to organismal levels of organization, and constituting a feasible evolutionary blueprint for invading fresh water, are reduced body permeability and surface (S) to volume (V) ratios, lowered osmotic concentrations, increased osmotic gradients, increased surface areas of interface epithelia, relocation of membrane proteins in ion-transporting cells, and augmented transport enzyme abundance, activity and affinity. We examine these adaptations in taxa that have penetrated into fresh water, revealing diversified modifications, a consequence of distinct body plans, morpho-physiological resources, and occupation routes. Contingent on life history and reproductive strategy, numerous patterns of osmotic regulation have emerged, including intracellular isosmotic regulation in weak hyper-regulators and well-developed anisosmotic extracellular regulation in strong hyper-regulators, likely reflecting inertial adaptations to early life in an estuarine environment. In this review, we address osmoregulation in those freshwater invertebrate lineages that have successfully invaded this biotope. Our analyses show that across sixty-six freshwater invertebrate species from six phyla/classes that have transmuted into fresh water from the sea, hemolymph osmolalities decrease logarithmically with increasing S: V ratios. The arthropods have the highest osmolalities, from 300 to 650 mOsmoles/kg H2O in the Decapoda with 220 to 320 mOsmoles/kg H2O in the Insecta; osmolalities in the Annelida range from 150 to 200 mOsmoles/kg H2O, the Mollusca showing the lowest osmolalities at 40 to 120 mOsmoles/kg H2O. Overall, osmolalities reach a cut-off at ∼200 mOsmoles/kg H2O, independently of increasing S: V ratio. The ability of species with small S: V ratios to maintain large osmotic gradients is mirrored in their putatively higher Na+/K+-ATPase activities that drive ion uptake processes. Selection pressures on these morpho-physiological characteristics have led to differential osmoregulatory abilities, rendering possible the conquest of fresh water while retaining some tolerance of the ancestral medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Campbell McNamara
- Departamento de Biologia, FFCLRP, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14040-901, SP, Brazil.,Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de São Paulo, São Sebastião 11600-000, SP, Brazil
| | - Carolina Arruda Freire
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba 81531-980, PR, Brazil
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13
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Miyazaki Y, Korenaga J. Inefficient Water Degassing Inhibits Ocean Formation on Rocky Planets: An Insight from Self-Consistent Mantle Degassing Models. ASTROBIOLOGY 2022; 22:713-734. [PMID: 35235378 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2021.0126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
A sufficient amount of water is required at the surface to develop water oceans. A significant fraction of water, however, remains in the mantle during magma ocean solidification, and thus the existence of water oceans is not guaranteed even for exoplanets located in the habitable zone. To discuss the likelihood of ocean formation, we built two models to predict the rate of mantle degassing during the magma ocean stage and the subsequent solid-state convection stage. We find that planets with low H2O/CO2 ratios would not have a sufficient amount of surface water to develop water oceans immediately after magma ocean solidification, and the majority of the water inventory would be retained in the mantle during their subsequent evolution regardless of planetary size. This is because oceanless planets are likely to operate under stagnant lid convection, and for such planets, dehydration stiffening of the depleted lithospheric mantle would limit the rate of mantle degassing. In contrast, a significant fraction of CO2 would already be degassed during magma ocean solidification. With a strong greenhouse effect, all surface water would exist as vapor, and water oceans may be absent throughout planetary evolution. Volatile concentrations in the bulk silicate Earth are close to the threshold amount for ocean formation, so if Venus shared similar concentrations, small differences in solar radiation may explain the divergent evolutionary paths of Earth and Venus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshinori Miyazaki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Jun Korenaga
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
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14
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Olson S, Jansen MF, Abbot DS, Halevy I, Goldblatt C. The Effect of Ocean Salinity on Climate and Its Implications for Earth's Habitability. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 2022; 49:e2021GL095748. [PMID: 35864818 PMCID: PMC9286645 DOI: 10.1029/2021gl095748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The influence of atmospheric composition on the climates of present-day and early Earth has been studied extensively, but the role of ocean composition has received less attention. We use the ROCKE-3D ocean-atmosphere general circulation model to investigate the response of Earth's present-day and Archean climate system to low versus high ocean salinity. We find that saltier oceans yield warmer climates in large part due to changes in ocean dynamics. Increasing ocean salinity from 20 to 50 g/kg results in a 71% reduction in sea ice cover in our present-day Earth scenario. This same salinity change also halves the pCO2 threshold at which Snowball glaciation occurs in our Archean scenarios. In combination with higher levels of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4, a saltier ocean may allow for a warm Archean Earth with only seasonal ice at the poles despite receiving ∼20% less energy from the Sun.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Olson
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary SciencePurdue UniversityWest LafayetteINUSA
| | - Malte F. Jansen
- Department of the Geophysical SciencesUniversity of ChicagoChicagoILUSA
| | - Dorian S. Abbot
- Department of the Geophysical SciencesUniversity of ChicagoChicagoILUSA
| | - Itay Halevy
- Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesWeizmann Institute of ScienceRehovotIsrael
| | - Colin Goldblatt
- School of Earth and Ocean SciencesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBCCanada
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15
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Miyazaki Y, Korenaga J. A wet heterogeneous mantle creates a habitable world in the Hadean. Nature 2022; 603:86-90. [PMID: 35236974 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04371-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The Hadean eon, following the global-scale melting of the mantle1-3, is expected to be a dynamic period, during which Earth experienced vastly different conditions. Geologic records, however, suggest that the surface environment of Earth was already similar to the present by the middle of the Hadean4,5. Under what conditions a harsh surface environment could turn into a habitable one remains uncertain6. Here we show that a hydrated mantle with small-scale chemical heterogeneity, created as a result of magma ocean solidification, is the key to ocean formation, the onset of plate tectonics and the rapid removal of greenhouse gases, which are all essential to create a habitable environment on terrestrial planets. When the mantle is wet and dominated by high-magnesium pyroxenites, the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is expected to be more than ten times faster than the case of a pyrolitic homogeneous mantle and could be completed within 160 million years. Such a chemically heterogeneous mantle would also produce oceanic crust rich in olivine, which is reactive with ocean water and promotes serpentinization. Therefore, conditions similar to the Lost City hydrothermal field7-9 may have existed globally in the Hadean seafloor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshinori Miyazaki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. .,Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
| | - Jun Korenaga
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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16
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Cooke GJ, Marsh DR, Walsh C, Black B, Lamarque JF. A revised lower estimate of ozone columns during Earth's oxygenated history. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211165. [PMID: 35070343 PMCID: PMC8728182 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The history of molecular oxygen (O2) in Earth's atmosphere is still debated; however, geological evidence supports at least two major episodes where O2 increased by an order of magnitude or more: the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) and the Neoproterozoic Oxidation Event. O2 concentrations have likely fluctuated (between 10-3 and 1.5 times the present atmospheric level) since the GOE ∼2.4 Gyr ago, resulting in a time-varying ozone (O3) layer. Using a three-dimensional chemistry-climate model, we simulate changes in O3 in Earth's atmosphere since the GOE and consider the implications for surface habitability, and glaciation during the Mesoproterozoic. We find lower O3 columns (reduced by up to 4.68 times for a given O2 level) compared to previous work; hence, higher fluxes of biologically harmful UV radiation would have reached the surface. Reduced O3 leads to enhanced tropospheric production of the hydroxyl radical (OH) which then substantially reduces the lifetime of methane (CH4). We show that a CH4 supported greenhouse effect during the Mesoproterozoic is highly unlikely. The reduced O3 columns we simulate have important implications for astrobiological and terrestrial habitability, demonstrating the relevance of three-dimensional chemistry-climate simulations when assessing paleoclimates and the habitability of faraway worlds.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. J. Cooke
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - D. R. Marsh
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - C. Walsh
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - B. Black
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, CUNY City College, New York, NY, USA
| | - J.-F. Lamarque
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
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17
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A halogen budget of the bulk silicate Earth points to a history of early halogen degassing followed by net regassing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2116083118. [PMID: 34916297 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2116083118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Halogens are important tracers of various planetary formation and evolution processes, and an accurate understanding of their abundances in the Earth's silicate reservoirs can help us reconstruct the history of interactions among mantle, atmosphere, and oceans. The previous studies of halogen abundances in the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) are based on the assumption of constant ratios of element abundances, which is shown to result in a gross underestimation of the BSE halogen budget. Here we present a more robust approach using a log-log linear model. Using this method, we provide an internally consistent estimate of halogen abundances in the depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB)-source mantle, the enriched ocean island basalts (OIB)-source mantle, the depleted mantle, and BSE. Unlike previous studies, our results suggest that halogens in BSE are not more depleted compared to elements with similar volatility, thereby indicating sufficient halogen retention during planetary accretion. According to halogen abundances in the depleted mantle and BSE, we estimate that ∼87% of all stable halogens reside in the present-day mantle. Given our understanding of the history of mantle degassing and the evolution of crustal recycling, the revised halogen budget suggests that deep halogen cycle is characterized by efficient degassing in the early Earth and subsequent net regassing in the rest of Earth history. Such an evolution of deep halogen cycle presents a major step toward a more comprehensive understanding of ancient ocean alkalinity, which affects carbon partitioning within the hydrosphere, the stability of crustal and authigenic minerals, and the development of early life.
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18
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Magmatic thickening of crust in non-plate tectonic settings initiated the subaerial rise of Earth's first continents 3.3 to 3.2 billion years ago. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2105746118. [PMID: 34750257 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105746118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
When and how Earth's earliest continents-the cratons-first emerged above the oceans (i.e., emersion) remain uncertain. Here, we analyze a craton-wide record of Paleo-to-Mesoarchean granitoid magmatism and terrestrial to shallow-marine sedimentation preserved in the Singhbhum Craton (India) and combine the results with isostatic modeling to examine the timing and mechanism of one of the earliest episodes of large-scale continental emersion on Earth. Detrital zircon U-Pb(-Hf) data constrain the timing of terrestrial to shallow-marine sedimentation on the Singhbhum Craton, which resolves the timing of craton-wide emersion. Time-integrated petrogenetic modeling of the granitoids quantifies the progressive changes in the cratonic crustal thickness and composition and the pressure-temperature conditions of granitoid magmatism, which elucidates the underlying mechanism and tectonic setting of emersion. The results show that the entire Singhbhum Craton became subaerial ∼3.3 to 3.2 billion years ago (Ga) due to progressive crustal maturation and thickening driven by voluminous granitoid magmatism within a plateau-like setting. A similar sedimentary-magmatic evolution also accompanied the early (>3 Ga) emersion of other cratons (e.g., Kaapvaal Craton). Therefore, we propose that the emersion of Earth's earliest continents began during the late Paleoarchean to early Mesoarchean and was driven by the isostatic rise of their magmatically thickened (∼50 km thick), buoyant, silica-rich crust. The inferred plateau-like tectonic settings suggest that subduction collision-driven compressional orogenesis was not essential in driving continental emersion, at least before the Neoarchean. We further surmise that this early emersion of cratons could be responsible for the transient and localized episodes of atmospheric-oceanic oxygenation (O2-whiffs) and glaciation on Archean Earth.
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Samuel VO, Santosh M, Jang Y, Kwon S. Acidic fluids in the Earth's lower crust. Sci Rep 2021; 11:21146. [PMID: 34707151 PMCID: PMC8551242 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00719-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Fluid flux through Earth’s surface and its interior causes geochemical cycling of elements in the Earth. Quantification of such process needs accurate knowledge about the composition and properties of the fluids. Knowledge about the fluids in Earth’s interior is scarce due to limitations in both experimental methods and thermodynamic modeling in high/ultrahigh pressure–temperature conditions. In this study, we present halogen (Cl, F) measurements in apatite grains from the mafic (metagabbro), and felsic (two-pyroxene granulite, charnockite, hornblende-biotite gneiss) rocks preserved in the Nilgiri Block, southern India. Previous experiments show that it is difficult to incorporate Cl in apatite compared to F at high pressure and temperature conditions. Based on regional trends in Cl and F content in apatite (with highest Cl content 2.95 wt%), we suggest the presence of acidic C–O–H fluids in the lower crust (~20–40 km deep) during the high-grade metamorphism of these rocks. These fluids are capable of causing extreme chemical alterations of minerals, especially refractory ones. They also have significant potential for mass transfer, causing extensive geochemical variations on a regional scale and altering the chemical and isotope records of rocks formed in the early Earth. Our findings have important relevance in understanding speciation triggered by acidic fluids in the lower crust, as well as the role of fluids in deep Earth processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinod O Samuel
- Department of Earth System Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - M Santosh
- School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, 29 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, China.,Department of Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Yirang Jang
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea.
| | - Sanghoon Kwon
- Department of Earth System Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
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20
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Was There Land on the Early Earth? Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11111142. [PMID: 34833018 PMCID: PMC8623345 DOI: 10.3390/life11111142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The presence of exposed land on the early Earth is a prerequisite for a certain type of prebiotic chemical evolution in which the oscillating activity of water, driven by short-term, day–night, and seasonal cycles, facilitates the synthesis of proto-biopolymers. Exposed land is, however, not guaranteed to exist on the early Earth, which is likely to have been drastically different from the modern Earth. This mini-review attempts to provide an up-to-date account on the possibility of exposed land on the early Earth by integrating recent geological and geophysical findings. Owing to the competing effects of the growing ocean and continents in the Hadean, a substantial expanse of the Earth’s surface (∼20% or more) could have been covered by exposed continents in the mid-Hadean. In contrast, exposed land may have been limited to isolated ocean islands in the late Hadean and early Archean. The importance of exposed land during the origins of life remains an open question.
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21
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Sakuraba H, Kurokawa H, Genda H, Ohta K. Numerous chondritic impactors and oxidized magma ocean set Earth's volatile depletion. Sci Rep 2021; 11:20894. [PMID: 34686749 PMCID: PMC8536732 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99240-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Earth’s surface environment is largely influenced by its budget of major volatile elements: carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H). Although the volatiles on Earth are thought to have been delivered by chondritic materials, the elemental composition of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) shows depletion in the order of N, C, and H. Previous studies have concluded that non-chondritic materials are needed for this depletion pattern. Here, we model the evolution of the volatile abundances in the atmosphere, oceans, crust, mantle, and core through the accretion history by considering elemental partitioning and impact erosion. We show that the BSE depletion pattern can be reproduced from continuous accretion of chondritic bodies by the partitioning of C into the core and H storage in the magma ocean in the main accretion stage and atmospheric erosion of N in the late accretion stage. This scenario requires a relatively oxidized magma ocean (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$f_{{\mathrm{O}}_2}$$\end{document}fO2 at the iron-wüstite buffer), the dominance of small impactors in the late accretion, and the storage of H and C in oceanic water and carbonate rocks in the late accretion stage, all of which are naturally expected from the formation of an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haruka Sakuraba
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8551, Japan.
| | - Hiroyuki Kurokawa
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Hidenori Genda
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Kenji Ohta
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8551, Japan
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22
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Stevenson DS, Wallace R. Biogeographical Modeling of Alien Worlds. ASTROBIOLOGY 2021; 21:831-844. [PMID: 33904766 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we partially quantify the biological potential of an exoplanet. We employ a variety of biogeographical analyses, placing biological evolution in the context of the geological evolution of the planet as a whole. Terrestrial (as in Earthly) biodiversity is tightly constrained in terms of species richness by its environment. An organism's habitable environment may be considered its niche space or hypervolume in terms of the physical characteristics in which that organism can survive and reproduce. This fundamental niche forms the broader space in which the organism realizes its true niche in terms of its interactions with other species. Many of the physical characteristics can be determined from astrophysical constraints and are thus amenable for dissection. However, the geographical space that organisms occupy is driven by the geological evolution of a sizable telluric planet. In turn, this is driven by the progressive differentiation of its interior to produce increasingly felsic crust. Using a variety of available models, we can then constrain the available space that species can inhabit using species-area relationships. By considering a combination of astrophysical constraints and geographical space, we partially quantify the numbers of species that can inhabit the landscape that geology provides. Finally, we also identify a correlation between geomorphological scale and speciation, which, if validated, will allow further dissection of species diversity on alien worlds.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S Stevenson
- Science Department, Carlton le Willows Academy, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Rodrick Wallace
- Division of Epidemiology, The New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA
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23
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Hao W, Mänd K, Li Y, Alessi DS, Somelar P, Moussavou M, Romashkin AE, Lepland A, Kirsimäe K, Planavsky NJ, Konhauser KO. The kaolinite shuttle links the Great Oxidation and Lomagundi events. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2944. [PMID: 34011941 PMCID: PMC8134571 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23304-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The ~2.22-2.06 Ga Lomagundi Event was the longest positive carbon isotope excursion in Earth's history and is commonly interpreted to reflect perturbations in continental weathering and the phosphorous cycle. Previous models have focused on mechanisms of increasing phosphorous solubilization during weathering without focusing on transport to the oceans and its dispersion in seawater. Building from new experimental results, here we report kaolinite readily absorbs phosphorous under acidic freshwater conditions, but quantitatively releases phosphorous under seawater conditions where it becomes bioavailable to phytoplankton. The strong likelihood of high weathering intensities and associated high kaolinite content in post-Great-Oxidation-Event paleosols suggests there would have been enhanced phosphorus shuttling from the continents into marine environments. A kaolinite phosphorous shuttle introduces the potential for nonlinearity in the fluxes of phosphorous to the oceans with increases in chemical weathering intensity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiduo Hao
- grid.17089.37Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Kaarel Mänd
- grid.17089.37Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada ,grid.10939.320000 0001 0943 7661Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Yuhao Li
- grid.17089.37Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Daniel S. Alessi
- grid.17089.37Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Peeter Somelar
- grid.10939.320000 0001 0943 7661Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Mathieu Moussavou
- Department of Geology, University of Science and Technology of Masuku, Franceville, Gabon
| | - Alexander E. Romashkin
- grid.465343.30000 0004 0397 7466Institute of Geology, Karelian Science Centre, Petrozavodsk, Russia
| | - Aivo Lepland
- grid.10939.320000 0001 0943 7661Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia ,grid.10919.300000000122595234CAGE—Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate, Department of Geosciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway ,grid.438521.90000 0001 1034 0453Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Kalle Kirsimäe
- grid.10939.320000 0001 0943 7661Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Noah J. Planavsky
- grid.47100.320000000419368710The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA
| | - Kurt O. Konhauser
- grid.17089.37Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
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Russell MJ. The "Water Problem"( sic), the Illusory Pond and Life's Submarine Emergence-A Review. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:429. [PMID: 34068713 PMCID: PMC8151828 DOI: 10.3390/life11050429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The assumption that there was a "water problem" at the emergence of life-that the Hadean Ocean was simply too wet and salty for life to have emerged in it-is here subjected to geological and experimental reality checks. The "warm little pond" that would take the place of the submarine alkaline vent theory (AVT), as recently extolled in the journal Nature, flies in the face of decades of geological, microbiological and evolutionary research and reasoning. To the present author, the evidence refuting the warm little pond scheme is overwhelming given the facts that (i) the early Earth was a water world, (ii) its all-enveloping ocean was never less than 4 km deep, (iii) there were no figurative "Icelands" or "Hawaiis", nor even an "Ontong Java" then because (iv) the solidifying magma ocean beneath was still too mushy to support such salient loadings on the oceanic crust. In place of the supposed warm little pond, we offer a well-protected mineral mound precipitated at a submarine alkaline vent as life's womb: in place of lipid membranes, we suggest peptides; we replace poisonous cyanide with ammonium and hydrazine; instead of deleterious radiation we have the appropriate life-giving redox and pH disequilibria; and in place of messy chemistry we offer the potential for life's emergence from the simplest of geochemically available molecules and ions focused at a submarine alkaline vent in the Hadean-specifically within the nano-confined flexible and redox active interlayer walls of the mixed-valent double layer oxyhydroxide mineral, fougerite/green rust comprising much of that mound.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Russell
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Torino, via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Turin, Italy
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25
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To What Inanimate Matter Are We Most Closely Related and Does the Origin of Life Harbor Meaning? PHILOSOPHIES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/philosophies6020033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The question concerning the meaning of life is important, but it immediately confronts the present authors with insurmountable obstacles from a philosophical standpoint, as it would require us to define not only what we hold to be life, but what we hold to be meaning in addition, requiring us to do both in a properly researched context. We unconditionally surrender to that challenge. Instead, we offer a vernacular, armchair approach to life’s origin and meaning, with some layman’s thoughts on the meaning of origins as viewed from the biologist’s standpoint. One can observe that biologists generally approach the concept of biological meaning in the context of evolution. This is the basis for the broad resonance behind Dobzhansky’s appraisal that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. Biologists try to understand living things in the historical context of how they arose, without giving much thought to the definition of what life or living things are, which for a biologist is usually not an interesting question in the practical context of daily dealings with organisms. Do humans generally understand life’s meaning in the context of history? If we consider the problem of life’s origin, the question of what constitutes a living thing becomes somewhat more acute for the biologist, though not more answerable, because it is inescapable that there was a time when there were no organisms on Earth, followed by a time when there were, the latter time having persisted in continuity to the present. This raises the question of where, in that transition, chemicals on Earth became alive, requiring, in turn, a set of premises for how life arose in order to conceptualize the problem in relation to organisms we know today, including ourselves, which brings us to the point of this paper: In the same way that cultural narratives for origins always start with a setting, scientific narratives for origins also always start with a setting, a place on Earth or elsewhere where we can imagine what happened for the sake of structuring both the problem and the narrative for its solution. This raises the question of whether scientific origins settings convey meaning to humans in that they suggest to us from what kind of place and what kinds of chemicals we are descended, that is, to which inanimate things we are most closely related.
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26
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Tang M, Chu X, Hao J, Shen B. Orogenic quiescence in Earth's middle age. Science 2021; 371:728-731. [PMID: 33574211 DOI: 10.1126/science.abf1876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Mountain belts modulate denudation flux and hydrologic processes and are thus fundamental to nutrient cycling on Earth's surface. We used europium anomalies in detrital zircons to track mountain-building processes over Earth's history. We show that the average thickness of active continental crust varied on billion-year time scales, with the thickest crust formed in the Archean and Phanerozoic. By contrast, the Proterozoic witnessed continuously decreasing crustal thickness, leaving the continents devoid of high mountains until the end of the eon. We link this gradually diminished orogenesis to the long-lived Nuna-Rodinia supercontinent, which altered the mantle thermal structure and weakened the continental lithosphere. This prolonged orogenic quiescence may have resulted in a persistent famine in the oceans and stalled life's evolution in Earth's middle age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming Tang
- Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belt and Crustal Evolution, MOE; School of Earth and Space Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
| | - Xu Chu
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada
| | - Jihua Hao
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.,CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Bing Shen
- Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belt and Crustal Evolution, MOE; School of Earth and Space Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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27
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Liu W, Hao J, Elzinga EJ, Piotrowiak P, Nanda V, Yee N, Falkowski PG. Anoxic photogeochemical oxidation of manganese carbonate yields manganese oxide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:22698-22704. [PMID: 32868429 PMCID: PMC7502741 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2002175117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The oxidation states of manganese minerals in the geological record have been interpreted as proxies for the evolution of molecular oxygen in the Archean eon. Here we report that an Archean manganese mineral, rhodochrosite (MnCO3), can be photochemically oxidized by light under anoxic, abiotic conditions. Rhodochrosite has a calculated bandgap of about 5.4 eV, corresponding to light energy centering around 230 nm. Light at that wavelength would have been present on Earth's surface in the Archean, prior to the formation of stratospheric ozone. We show experimentally that the photooxidation of rhodochrosite in suspension with light centered at 230 nm produced H2 gas and manganite (γ-MnOOH) with an apparent quantum yield of 1.37 × 10-3 moles hydrogen per moles incident photons. Our results suggest that manganese oxides could have formed abiotically on the surface in shallow waters and on continents during the Archean eon in the absence of molecular oxygen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Winnie Liu
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854
| | - Jihua Hao
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
| | - Evert J Elzinga
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ 07102
| | - Piotr Piotrowiak
- Department of Chemistry, Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ 07102
| | - Vikas Nanda
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854
| | - Nathan Yee
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854
| | - Paul G Falkowski
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854;
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
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28
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Guo M, Korenaga J. Argon constraints on the early growth of felsic continental crust. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaaz6234. [PMID: 32671213 PMCID: PMC7314546 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz6234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The continental crust is a major geochemical reservoir, the evolution of which has shaped the surface environment of Earth. In this study, we present a new model of coupled crust-mantle-atmosphere evolution to constrain the growth of continental crust with atmospheric 40Ar/36Ar. Our model is the first to combine argon degassing with the thermal evolution of Earth in a self-consistent manner and to incorporate the effect of crustal recycling and reworking using the distributions of crustal formation and surface ages. Our results suggest that the history of argon degassing favors rapid crustal growth during the early Earth. The mass of continental crust, highly enriched in potassium, is estimated to have already reached >80% of the present-day level during the early Archean. The presence of such potassium-rich, likely felsic, crust has important implications for tectonics, surface environment, and the regime of mantle convection in the early Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng Guo
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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29
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Bekaert DV, Broadley MW, Marty B. The origin and fate of volatile elements on Earth revisited in light of noble gas data obtained from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Sci Rep 2020; 10:5796. [PMID: 32242104 PMCID: PMC7118078 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-62650-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The origin of terrestrial volatiles remains one of the most puzzling questions in planetary sciences. The timing and composition of chondritic and cometary deliveries to Earth has remained enigmatic due to the paucity of reliable measurements of cometary material. This work uses recently measured volatile elemental ratios and noble gas isotope data from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G), in combination with chondritic data from the literature, to reconstruct the composition of Earth’s ancient atmosphere. Comets are found to have contributed ~20% of atmospheric heavy noble gases (i.e., Kr and Xe) but limited amounts of other volatile elements (water, halogens and likely organic materials) to Earth. These cometary noble gases were likely mixed with chondritic - and not solar - sources to form the atmosphere. We show that an ancient atmosphere composed of chondritic and cometary volatiles is more enriched in Xe relative to the modern atmosphere, requiring that 8–12 times the present-day inventory of Xe was lost to space. This potentially resolves the long-standing mystery of Earth’s “missing xenon”, with regards to both Xe elemental depletion and isotopic fractionation in the atmosphere. The inferred Kr/H2O and Xe/H2O of the initial atmosphere suggest that Earth’s surface volatiles might not have been fully delivered by the late accretion of volatile-rich carbonaceous chondrites. Instead, “dry” materials akin to enstatite chondrites potentially constituted a significant source of chondritic volatiles now residing on the Earth’s surface. We outline the working hypotheses, implications and limitations of this model in the last section of this contribution.
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Affiliation(s)
- David V Bekaert
- Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, UMR 7358 CNRS - Université de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
| | - Michael W Broadley
- Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, UMR 7358 CNRS - Université de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
| | - Bernard Marty
- Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, UMR 7358 CNRS - Université de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
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30
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Benner SA, Bell EA, Biondi E, Brasser R, Carell T, Kim H, Mojzsis SJ, Omran A, Pasek MA, Trail D. When Did Life Likely Emerge on Earth in an RNA‐First Process? CHEMSYSTEMSCHEM 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/syst.201900035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steven A. Benner
- Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution Alachua FL USA
- Firebird Biomolecular Sciences LLC Alachua FL USA
| | - Elizabeth A. Bell
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space SciencesUniversity of California Los Angeles USA
| | - Elisa Biondi
- Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution Alachua FL USA
| | - Ramon Brasser
- Earth Life Science InstituteTokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan
| | - Thomas Carell
- Fakultät für Chemie und PharmazieLudwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany
| | | | - Stephen J. Mojzsis
- Department of Geological SciencesUniversity of Colorado Boulder CO USA
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
| | - Arthur Omran
- School of GeosciencesUniversity of South Florida Tampa, FL USA
| | | | - Dustin Trail
- Department of Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Rochester Rochester NY USA
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31
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Moore EK, Hao J, Spielman SJ, Yee N. The evolving redox chemistry and bioavailability of vanadium in deep time. GEOBIOLOGY 2020; 18:127-138. [PMID: 32048807 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/30/2019] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
The incorporation of metal cofactors into protein active sites and/or active regions expanded the network of microbial metabolism during the Archean eon. The bioavailability of crucial metal cofactors is largely influenced by earth surface redox state, which impacted the timing of metabolic evolution. Vanadium (V) is a unique element in geo-bio-coevolution due to its complex redox chemistry and specific biological functions. Thus, the extent of microbial V utilization potentially represents an important link between the geo- and biospheres in deep time. In this study, we used geochemical modeling and network analysis to investigate the availability and chemical speciation of V in the environment, and the emergence and changing chemistry of V-containing minerals throughout earth history. The redox state of V shifted from a more reduced V(III) state in Archean aqueous geochemistry and mineralogy to more oxidized V(IV) and V(V) states in the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. The weathering of vanadium sulfides, vanadium alkali metal minerals, and vanadium alkaline earth metal minerals were potential sources of V to the environment and microbial utilization. Community detection analysis of the expanding V mineral network indicates tectonic and redox influence on the distribution of V mineral-forming elements. In reducing environments, energetic drivers existed for V to potentially be involved in early nitrogen fixation, while in oxidizing environments vanadate ( VO43-]]> ) could have acted as a metabolic electron acceptor and phosphate mimicking enzyme inhibitor. The coevolving chemical speciation and biological functions of V due to earth's changing surface redox conditions demonstrate the crucial links between the geosphere and biosphere in the evolution of metabolic electron transfer pathways and biogeochemical cycles from the Archean to Phanerozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eli K Moore
- Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth and the Environment, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA
| | - Jihua Hao
- University of Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Ens de Lyon, CNRS, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Stephanie J Spielman
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA
| | - Nathan Yee
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
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32
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Satellite Remote Sensing of Precipitation and the Terrestrial Water Cycle in a Changing Climate. REMOTE SENSING 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/rs11192301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The water cycle is the most essential supporting physical mechanism ensuring the existence of life on Earth. Its components encompass the atmosphere, land, and oceans. The cycle is composed of evaporation, evapotranspiration, sublimation, water vapor transport, condensation, precipitation, runoff, infiltration and percolation, groundwater flow, and plant uptake. For a correct closure of the global water cycle, observations are needed of all these processes with a global perspective. In particular, precipitation requires continuous monitoring, as it is the most important component of the cycle, especially under changing climatic conditions. Passive and active sensors on board meteorological and environmental satellites now make reasonably complete data available that allow better measurements of precipitation to be made from space, in order to improve our understanding of the cycle’s acceleration/deceleration under current and projected climate conditions. The article aims to draw an up-to-date picture of the current status of observations of precipitation from space, with an outlook to the near future of the satellite constellation, modeling applications, and water resource management.
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33
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Finke N, Simister RL, O'Neil AH, Nomosatryo S, Henny C, MacLean LC, Canfield DE, Konhauser K, Lalonde SV, Fowle DA, Crowe SA. Mesophilic microorganisms build terrestrial mats analogous to Precambrian microbial jungles. Nat Commun 2019; 10:4323. [PMID: 31541087 PMCID: PMC6754388 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11541-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Development of Archean paleosols and patterns of Precambrian rock weathering suggest colonization of continents by subaerial microbial mats long before evolution of land plants in the Phanerozoic Eon. Modern analogues for such mats, however, have not been reported, and possible biogeochemical roles of these mats in the past remain largely conceptual. We show that photosynthetic, subaerial microbial mats from Indonesia grow on mafic bedrocks at ambient temperatures and form distinct layers with features similar to Precambrian mats and paleosols. Such subaerial mats could have supported a substantial aerobic biosphere, including nitrification and methanotrophy, and promoted methane emissions and oxidative weathering under ostensibly anoxic Precambrian atmospheres. High C-turnover rates and cell abundances would have made these mats prime locations for early microbial diversification. Growth of landmass in the late Archean to early Proterozoic Eons could have reorganized biogeochemical cycles between land and sea impacting atmospheric chemistry and climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Finke
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Nordic center for earth evolution (NordCEE), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - R L Simister
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | | | - S Nomosatryo
- Research center for Limnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jawa Barat, Indonesia
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
| | - C Henny
- Research center for Limnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jawa Barat, Indonesia
| | | | - D E Canfield
- Nordic center for earth evolution (NordCEE), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - K Konhauser
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - S V Lalonde
- European Institute for Marine Studies, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané, France
| | - D A Fowle
- Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - S A Crowe
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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Braakman R. Evolution of cellular metabolism and the rise of a globally productive biosphere. Free Radic Biol Med 2019; 140:172-187. [PMID: 31082508 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Revised: 02/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Metabolic processes in cells and chemical processes in the environment are fundamentally intertwined and have evolved in concert for most of Earth's existence. Here I argue that intrinsic properties of cellular metabolism imposed central constraints on the historical trajectories of biopsheric productivity and atmospheric oxygenation. Photosynthesis depends on iron, but iron is highly insoluble under the aerobic conditions produced by oxygenic photosynthesis. These counteracting constraints led to two major stages of Earth oxygenation. After a cyanobacteria-driven biospheric expansion near the Archean-Proterozoic boundary, productivity remained largely restricted to continental boundaries and shallow aquatic environments where weathering inputs made iron more accessible. The anoxic deep open ocean was rich in free iron during the Proterozoic, but this iron was largely inaccessible, partly because an otherwise nutrient-poor ocean was limiting to photosynthesis, but also because a photosynthetic expansion would have quenched its own iron supply. Near the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic boundary, bioenergetics innovations allowed eukaryotic photosynthesis to overcome these interconnected negative feedbacks and begin expanding into the deep open oceans and onto the continents, where nutrients are inherently harder to come by. Key insights into what drove the ecological rise of eukaryotic photosynthesis emerge from analyses of marine Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, abundant marine picocyanobacteria whose ancestors colonized the oceans in the Neoproterozoic. The reconstructed evolution of this group reveals a sequence of innovations that ultimately produced a form of photosynthesis in Prochlorococcus that is more like that of green plant cells than other cyanobacteria. Innovations increased the energy flux of cells, thereby enhancing their ability to acquire sparse nutrients, and as by-product also increased the production of organic carbon waste. Some of these organic waste products had the ability to chelate iron and make it bioavailable, thereby indirectly pushing the oceans through a transition from an anoxic state rich in free iron to an oxygenated state with organic carbon-bound iron. Resulting conditions (and parallel processes on the continents) in turn led to a series of positive feedbacks that increased the availability of other nutrients, thereby promoting the rise of a globally productive biosphere. In addition to the occurrence of major biospheric expansions, the several hundred million-year periods around the Archean-Proterozoic and Proterozoic-Phanerozoic boundaries share a number of other parallels. Both epochs have also been linked to major carbon cycle perturbations and global glaciations, as well as changes in the nature of plate tectonics and increases in continental exposure and weathering. This suggests the dynamics of life and Earth are intimately intertwined across many levels and that general principles governed transitions in these coupled dynamics at both times in Earth history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rogier Braakman
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
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35
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Sobolev SV, Brown M. Surface erosion events controlled the evolution of plate tectonics on Earth. Nature 2019; 570:52-57. [PMID: 31168102 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1258-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Accepted: 04/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Plate tectonics is among the most important geological processes on Earth, but its emergence and evolution remain unclear. Here we extrapolate models of present-day plate tectonics to the past and propose that since about three billion years ago the rise of continents and the accumulation of sediments at continental edges and in trenches has provided lubrication for the stabilization of subduction and has been crucial in the development of plate tectonics on Earth. We conclude that the two largest surface erosion and subduction lubrication events occurred after the Palaeoproterozoic Huronian global glaciations (2.45 to 2.2 billion years ago), leading to the formation of the Columbia supercontinent, and after the Neoproterozoic 'snowball' Earth glaciations (0.75 to 0.63 billion years ago). The snowball Earth event followed the 'boring billion'-a period of reduced plate tectonic activity about 1.75 to 0.75 billion years ago that was probably caused by a shortfall of sediments in trenches-and it kick-started the modern episode of active plate tectonics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan V Sobolev
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section of Geodynamic Modeling, Potsdam, Germany. .,Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Michael Brown
- Laboratory for Crustal Petrology, Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
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Exposed Areas Above Sea Level on Earth >3.5 Gyr Ago: Implications for Prebiotic and Primitive Biotic Chemistry. Life (Basel) 2018; 8:life8040055. [PMID: 30400350 PMCID: PMC6316429 DOI: 10.3390/life8040055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Revised: 11/01/2018] [Accepted: 11/01/2018] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
How life began on Earth is still largely shrouded in mystery. One of the central ideas for various origins of life scenarios is Darwin’s “warm little pond”. In these small bodies of water, simple prebiotic compounds such as amino acids, nucleobases, and so on, were produced from reagents such as hydrogen cyanide and aldehydes/ketones. These simple prebiotic compounds underwent further reactions, producing more complex molecules. The process of chemical evolution would have produced increasingly complex molecules, eventually yielding a molecule with the properties of information storage and replication prone to random mutations, the hallmark of both the origin of life and evolution. However, there is one problematic issue with this scenario: On the Earth >3.5 Gyr ago there would have likely been no exposed continental crust above sea level. The only land areas that protruded out of the oceans would have been associated with hotspot volcanic islands, such as the Hawaiian island chain today. On these long-lived islands, in association with reduced gas-rich eruptions accompanied by intense volcanic lightning, prebiotic reagents would have been produced that accumulated in warm or cool little ponds and lakes on the volcano flanks. During seasonal wet–dry cycles, molecules with increasing complexity could have been produced. These islands would have thus been the most likely places for chemical evolution and the processes associated with the origin of life. The islands would eventually be eroded away and their chemical evolution products would have been released into the oceans where Darwinian evolution ultimately produced the biochemistry associated with all life on Earth today.
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Korenaga J. Crustal evolution and mantle dynamics through Earth history. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2018; 376:rsta.2017.0408. [PMID: 30275159 PMCID: PMC6189559 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/31/2018] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Resolving the modes of mantle convection through Earth history, i.e. when plate tectonics started and what kind of mantle dynamics reigned before, is essential to the understanding of the evolution of the whole Earth system, because plate tectonics influences almost all aspects of modern geological processes. This is a challenging problem because plate tectonics continuously rejuvenates Earth's surface on a time scale of about 100 Myr, destroying evidence for its past operation. It thus becomes essential to exploit indirect evidence preserved in the buoyant continental crust, part of which has survived over billions of years. This contribution starts with an in-depth review of existing models for continental growth. Growth models proposed so far can be categorized into three types: crust-based, mantle-based and other less direct inferences, and the first two types are particularly important as their difference reflects the extent of crustal recycling, which can be related to subduction. Then, a theoretical basis for a change in the mode of mantle convection in the Precambrian is reviewed, along with a critical appraisal of some popular notions for early Earth dynamics. By combining available geological and geochemical observations with geodynamical considerations, a tentative hypothesis is presented for the evolution of mantle dynamics and its relation to surface environment; the early onset of plate tectonics and gradual mantle hydration are responsible not only for the formation of continental crust but also for its preservation as well as its emergence above sea level. Our current understanding of various material properties and elementary processes is still too premature to build a testable, quantitative model for this hypothesis, but such modelling efforts could potentially transform the nature of the data-starved early Earth research by quantifying the extent of preservation bias.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Earth dynamics and the development of plate tectonics'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Korenaga
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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Preiner M, Xavier JC, Sousa FL, Zimorski V, Neubeck A, Lang SQ, Greenwell HC, Kleinermanns K, Tüysüz H, McCollom TM, Holm NG, Martin WF. Serpentinization: Connecting Geochemistry, Ancient Metabolism and Industrial Hydrogenation. Life (Basel) 2018; 8:life8040041. [PMID: 30249016 PMCID: PMC6316048 DOI: 10.3390/life8040041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Revised: 09/18/2018] [Accepted: 09/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Rock⁻water⁻carbon interactions germane to serpentinization in hydrothermal vents have occurred for over 4 billion years, ever since there was liquid water on Earth. Serpentinization converts iron(II) containing minerals and water to magnetite (Fe₃O₄) plus H₂. The hydrogen can generate native metals such as awaruite (Ni₃Fe), a common serpentinization product. Awaruite catalyzes the synthesis of methane from H₂ and CO₂ under hydrothermal conditions. Native iron and nickel catalyze the synthesis of formate, methanol, acetate, and pyruvate-intermediates of the acetyl-CoA pathway, the most ancient pathway of CO₂ fixation. Carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) is central to the pathway and employs Ni⁰ in its catalytic mechanism. CODH has been conserved during 4 billion years of evolution as a relic of the natural CO₂-reducing catalyst at the onset of biochemistry. The carbide-containing active site of nitrogenase-the only enzyme on Earth that reduces N₂-is probably also a relic, a biological reconstruction of the naturally occurring inorganic catalyst that generated primordial organic nitrogen. Serpentinization generates Fe₃O₄ and H₂, the catalyst and reductant for industrial CO₂ hydrogenation and for N₂ reduction via the Haber⁻Bosch process. In both industrial processes, an Fe₃O₄ catalyst is matured via H₂-dependent reduction to generate Fe₅C₂ and Fe₂N respectively. Whether serpentinization entails similar catalyst maturation is not known. We suggest that at the onset of life, essential reactions leading to reduced carbon and reduced nitrogen occurred with catalysts that were synthesized during the serpentinization process, connecting the chemistry of life and Earth to industrial chemistry in unexpected ways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Preiner
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Joana C Xavier
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Filipa L Sousa
- Division of Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics, Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14 UZA I, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Verena Zimorski
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Anna Neubeck
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Geocentrum, Villavägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Susan Q Lang
- School of the Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of South Carolina, 701 Sumter St. EWS 401, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
| | - H Chris Greenwell
- Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, South Road, DH1 3LE Durham, UK.
| | - Karl Kleinermanns
- Institute for Physical Chemistry, University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Harun Tüysüz
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
| | - Tom M McCollom
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
| | - Nils G Holm
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - William F Martin
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
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Russell MJ. Green Rust: The Simple Organizing 'Seed' of All Life? Life (Basel) 2018; 8:E35. [PMID: 30150570 PMCID: PMC6161180 DOI: 10.3390/life8030035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Korenaga and coworkers presented evidence to suggest that the Earth's mantle was dry and water filled the ocean to twice its present volume 4.3 billion years ago. Carbon dioxide was constantly exhaled during the mafic to ultramafic volcanic activity associated with magmatic plumes that produced the thick, dense, and relatively stable oceanic crust. In that setting, two distinct and major types of sub-marine hydrothermal vents were active: ~400 °C acidic springs, whose effluents bore vast quantities of iron into the ocean, and ~120 °C, highly alkaline, and reduced vents exhaling from the cooler, serpentinizing crust some distance from the heads of the plumes. When encountering the alkaline effluents, the iron from the plume head vents precipitated out, forming mounds likely surrounded by voluminous exhalative deposits similar to the banded iron formations known from the Archean. These mounds and the surrounding sediments, comprised micro or nano-crysts of the variable valence FeII/FeIII oxyhydroxide known as green rust. The precipitation of green rust, along with subsidiary iron sulfides and minor concentrations of nickel, cobalt, and molybdenum in the environment at the alkaline springs, may have established both the key bio-syntonic disequilibria and the means to properly make use of them-the elements needed to effect the essential inanimate-to-animate transitions that launched life. Specifically, in the submarine alkaline vent model for the emergence of life, it is first suggested that the redox-flexible green rust micro- and nano-crysts spontaneously precipitated to form barriers to the complete mixing of carbonic ocean and alkaline hydrothermal fluids. These barriers created and maintained steep ionic disequilibria. Second, the hydrous interlayers of green rust acted as engines that were powered by those ionic disequilibria and drove essential endergonic reactions. There, aided by sulfides and trace elements acting as catalytic promoters and electron transfer agents, nitrate could be reduced to ammonia and carbon dioxide to formate, while methane may have been oxidized to methyl and formyl groups. Acetate and higher carboxylic acids could then have been produced from these C1 molecules and aminated to amino acids, and thence oligomerized to offer peptide nests to phosphate and iron sulfides, and secreted to form primitive amyloid-bounded structures, leading conceivably to protocells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Russell
- Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA.
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Parai R, Mukhopadhyay S. Xenon isotopic constraints on the history of volatile recycling into the mantle. Nature 2018; 560:223-227. [PMID: 30089920 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0388-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2017] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The long-term exchange of volatile species (such as water, carbon, nitrogen and the noble gases) between deep Earth and surface reservoirs controls the habitability of the Earth's surface. The present-day volatile budget of the mantle reflects the integrated history of outgassing and retention of primordial volatiles delivered to the planet during accretion, volatile species generated by radiogenic ingrowth and volatiles transported into the mantle from surface reservoirs over time. Variations in the distribution of volatiles between deep Earth and surface reservoirs affect the viscosity, cooling rate and convective stress state of the solid Earth. Accordingly, constraints on the flux of surface volatiles transported into the deep Earth improve our understanding of mantle convection and plate tectonics. However, the history of surface volatile regassing into the mantle is not known. Here we use mantle xenon isotope systematics to constrain the age of initiation of volatile regassing into the deep Earth. Given evidence of prolonged evolution of the xenon isotopic composition of the atmosphere1,2, we find that substantial recycling of atmospheric xenon into the deep Earth could not have occurred before 2.5 billion years ago. Xenon concentrations in downwellings remained low relative to ambient convecting mantle concentrations throughout the Archaean era, and the mantle shifted from a net degassing to a net regassing regime after 2.5 billion years ago. Because xenon is carried into the Earth's interior in hydrous mineral phases3-5, our results indicate that downwellings were drier in the Archaean era relative to the present. Progressive drying of the Archean mantle would allow slower convection and decreased heat transport out of the mantle, suggesting non-monotonic thermal evolution of the Earth's interior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rita Parai
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
| | - Sujoy Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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Reverse weathering as a long-term stabilizer of marine pH and planetary climate. Nature 2018; 560:471-475. [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0408-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Bindeman IN, Zakharov DO, Palandri J, Greber ND, Dauphas N, Retallack GJ, Hofmann A, Lackey JS, Bekker A. Rapid emergence of subaerial landmasses and onset of a modern hydrologic cycle 2.5 billion years ago. Nature 2018; 557:545-548. [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0131-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 110] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Redox Evolution via Gravitational Differentiation on Low-mass Planets: Implications for Abiotic Oxygen, Water Loss, and Habitability. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018. [DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aab608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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Mantle hydration and the role of water in the generation of large igneous provinces. Nat Commun 2017; 8:1824. [PMID: 29180738 PMCID: PMC5704025 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01940-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2017] [Accepted: 10/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The genesis of large igneous provinces (LIP) is controlled by multiple factors including anomalous mantle temperatures, the presence of fusible fertile components and volatiles in the mantle source, and the extent of decompression. The lack of a comprehensive examination of all these factors in one specific LIP makes the mantle plume model debatable. Here, we report estimates of the water content in picrites from the Emeishan LIP in southwestern China. Although these picrites display an island arc-like H2O content (up to 3.4 by weight percent), the trace element characteristics do not support a subduction zone setting but point to a hydrous reservoir in the deep mantle. Combining with previous studies, we propose that hydrous and hot plumes occasionally appeared in the Phanerozoic era to produce continental LIPs (e.g., Tarim, Siberian Trap, Karoo). The wide sampling of hydrous reservoirs in the deep mantle by mantle plumes thus indicates that the Earth's interior is largely hydrated.
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