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Sumner DY. Oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere induced metabolic and ecologic transformations recorded in the Lomagundi-Jatuli carbon isotopic excursion. Appl Environ Microbiol 2024; 90:e0009324. [PMID: 38819147 PMCID: PMC11218651 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00093-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere represents the quintessential transformation of a planetary surface by microbial processes. In turn, atmospheric oxygenation transformed metabolic evolution; molecular clock models indicate the diversification and ecological expansion of respiratory metabolisms in the several hundred million years following atmospheric oxygenation. Across this same interval, the geological record preserves 13C enrichment in some carbonate rocks, called the Lomagundi-Jatuli excursion (LJE). By combining data from geologic and genomic records, a self-consistent metabolic evolution model emerges for the LJE. First, fermentation and methanogenesis were major processes remineralizing organic carbon before atmospheric oxygenation. Once an ozone layer formed, shallow water and exposed environments were shielded from UVB/C radiation, allowing the expansion of cyanobacterial primary productivity. High primary productivity and methanogenesis led to preferential removal of 12C into organic carbon and CH4. Extreme and variable 13C enrichments in carbonates were caused by 13C-depleted CH4 loss to the atmosphere. Through time, aerobic respiration diversified and became ecologically widespread, as did other new metabolisms. Respiration displaced fermentation and methanogenesis as the dominant organic matter remineralization processes. As CH4 loss slowed, dissolved inorganic carbon in shallow environments was no longer highly 13C enriched. Thus, the loss of extreme 13C enrichments in carbonates marks the establishment of a new microbial mat ecosystem structure, one dominated by respiratory processes distributed along steep redox gradients. These gradients allowed the exchange of metabolic by-products among metabolically diverse organisms, providing novel metabolic opportunities. Thus, the microbially induced oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere led to the transformation of microbial ecosystems, an archetypal example of planetary microbiology.IMPORTANCEThe oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere represents the most extensive known chemical transformation of a planetary surface by microbial processes. In turn, atmospheric oxygenation transformed metabolic evolution by providing oxidants independent of the sites of photosynthesis. Thus, the evolutionary changes during this interval and their effects on planetary-scale biogeochemical cycles are fundamental to our understanding of the interdependencies among genomes, organisms, ecosystems, elemental cycles, and Earth's surface chemistry through time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dawn Y. Sumner
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
- Microbiology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
- Feminist Research Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
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Crockford PW, Bar On YM, Ward LM, Milo R, Halevy I. The geologic history of primary productivity. Curr Biol 2023; 33:4741-4750.e5. [PMID: 37827153 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
The rate of primary productivity is a keystone variable in driving biogeochemical cycles today and has been throughout Earth's past.1 For example, it plays a critical role in determining nutrient stoichiometry in the oceans,2 the amount of global biomass,3 and the composition of Earth's atmosphere.4 Modern estimates suggest that terrestrial and marine realms contribute near-equal amounts to global gross primary productivity (GPP).5 However, this productivity balance has shifted significantly in both recent times6 and through deep time.7,8 Combining the marine and terrestrial components, modern GPP fixes ≈250 billion tonnes of carbon per year (Gt C year-1).5,9,10,11 A grand challenge in the study of the history of life on Earth has been to constrain the trajectory that connects present-day productivity to the origin of life. Here, we address this gap by piecing together estimates of primary productivity from the origin of life to the present day. We estimate that ∼1011-1012 Gt C has cumulatively been fixed through GPP (≈100 times greater than Earth's entire carbon stock). We further estimate that 1039-1040 cells have occupied the Earth to date, that more autotrophs than heterotrophs have ever existed, and that cyanobacteria likely account for a larger proportion than any other group in terms of the number of cells. We discuss implications for evolutionary trajectories and highlight the early Proterozoic, which encompasses the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), as the time where most uncertainty exists regarding the quantitative census presented here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter W Crockford
- Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel; Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
| | - Yinon M Bar On
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel; Division of Geological Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Luce M Ward
- Department of Geosciences, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA
| | - Ron Milo
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Itay Halevy
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
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3
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Kipp MA. Carbon cycling: How much life has ever existed on Earth? Curr Biol 2023; 33:R1153-R1155. [PMID: 37935129 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
Carbon has cycled through Earth's biosphere for billions of years. New work estimates that life has recycled the equivalent of almost 100 times the Earth's entire carbon reservoir through the biosphere. This highlights life's global impact, providing a benchmark for habitable planets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Kipp
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA; Division of Earth and Climate Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
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Watanabe Y, Tajika E, Ozaki K. Evolution of iron and oxygen biogeochemical cycles during the Precambrian. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:689-707. [PMID: 37622474 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Iron (Fe) is an essential element for life, and its geochemical cycle is intimately linked to the coupled history of life and Earth's environment. The accumulated geologic records indicate that ferruginous waters existed in the Precambrian oceans not only before the first major rise of atmospheric O2 levels (Great Oxidation Event; GOE) during the Paleoproterozoic, but also during the rest of the Proterozoic. However, the interactive evolution of the biogeochemical cycles of O2 and Fe during the Archean-Proterozoic remains ambiguous. Here, we develop a biogeochemical model to investigate the coupled biogeochemical evolution of Fe-O2 -P-C cycles across the GOE. Our model demonstrates that the marine Fe cycle was less sensitive to changes in the production rate of O2 before the GOE (atmospheric pO2 < 10-6 PAL; present atmospheric level). When the P supply rate to the ocean exceeds a certain threshold, the GOE occurs and atmospheric pO2 rises to ~10-3 -10-1 PAL. After the GOE, the marine Fe(II) concentration is highly sensitive to atmospheric pO2 , suggesting that the marine redox landscape during the Proterozoic may have fluctuated between ferruginous conditions and anoxic non-ferruginous conditions with sulfidic water masses around continental margins. At a certain threshold value of atmospheric pO2 of ~0.3% PAL, the primary oxidation pathway of Fe(II) shifts from the activity of Fe(II)-utilizing anoxygenic photoautotrophs in sunlit surface waters to abiotic process in the deep ocean. This is accompanied by a shift in the primary deposition site of Fe(III) hydroxides from the surface ocean to the deep sea, providing a plausible mechanistic explanation for the observed cessation of iron formations during the Proterozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuto Watanabe
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Eiichi Tajika
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazumi Ozaki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Alternative Earths Team, Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Riverside, California, USA
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Watanabe Y, Tajika E, Ozaki K. Biogeochemical transformations after the emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis and conditions for the first rise of atmospheric oxygen. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:537-555. [PMID: 36960595 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The advent of oxygenic photosynthesis represents the most prominent biological innovation in the evolutionary history of the Earth. The exact timing of the evolution of oxygenic photoautotrophic bacteria remains elusive, yet these bacteria profoundly altered the redox state of the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system, ultimately causing the first major rise in atmospheric oxygen (O2 )-the so-called Great Oxidation Event (GOE)-during the Paleoproterozoic (~2.5-2.2 Ga). However, it remains unclear how the coupled atmosphere-marine biosphere system behaved after the emergence of oxygenic photoautotrophs (OP), affected global biogeochemical cycles, and led to the GOE. Here, we employ a coupled atmospheric photochemistry and marine microbial ecosystem model to comprehensively explore the intimate links between the atmosphere and marine biosphere driven by the expansion of OP, and the biogeochemical conditions of the GOE. When the primary productivity of OP sufficiently increases in the ocean, OP suppresses the activity of the anaerobic microbial ecosystem by reducing the availability of electron donors (H2 and CO) in the biosphere and causes climate cooling by reducing the level of atmospheric methane (CH4 ). This can be attributed to the supply of OH radicals from biogenic O2 , which is a primary sink of biogenic CH4 and electron donors in the atmosphere. Our typical result also demonstrates that the GOE is triggered when the net primary production of OP exceeds >~5% of the present oceanic value. A globally frozen snowball Earth event could be triggered if the atmospheric CO2 level was sufficiently small (<~40 present atmospheric level; PAL) because the concentration of CH4 in the atmosphere would decrease faster than the climate mitigation by the carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle. These results support a prolonged anoxic atmosphere after the emergence of OP during the Archean and the occurrence of the GOE and snowball Earth event during the Paleoproterozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuto Watanabe
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Eiichi Tajika
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazumi Ozaki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
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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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Eguchi J, Diamond CW, Lyons TW. Proterozoic supercontinent break-up as a driver for oxygenation events and subsequent carbon isotope excursions. PNAS NEXUS 2022; 1:pgac036. [PMID: 36713325 PMCID: PMC9802223 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Oxygen and carbon are 2 elements critical for life on Earth. Earth's most dramatic oxygenation events and carbon isotope excursions (CIE) occurred during the Proterozoic, including the Paleoproterozoic Great Oxidation Event and the associated Lomagundi CIE, the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation event, and the Shuram negative CIE during the late Neoproterozoic. A specific pattern of a long-lived positive CIE followed by a negative CIE is observed in association with oxygenation events during the Paleo- and Neo-proterozoic. We present results from a carbon cycle model designed to couple the surface and interior cycling of carbon that reproduce this pattern. The model assumes organic carbon resides in the mantle longer than carbonate, leading to systematic temporal variations in the δ13C of volcanic CO2 emissions. When the model is perturbed by periods of enhanced continental weathering, increased amounts of carbonate and organic carbon are buried. Increased deposition of organic carbon allows O2 accumulation, while positive CIEs are driven by rapid release of subducted carbonate-derived CO2 at arcs. The subsequent negative CIEs are driven by the delayed release of organic C-derived CO2 at ocean islands. Our model reproduces the sequences observed in the Paleo- and Neo-proterozoic, that is oxygenation accompanied by a positive CIE followed by a negative CIE. Periods of enhanced weathering correspond temporally to supercontinent break-up, suggesting an important connection between global tectonics and the evolution of oxygen and carbon on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Charles W Diamond
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Timothy W Lyons
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
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Xie S, Jiao N, Luo G, Li D, Wang P. Evolution of biotic carbon pumps in Earth history: Microbial roles as a carbon sink in oceans. CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN-CHINESE 2021. [DOI: 10.1360/tb-2021-0672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Decreasing extents of Archean serpentinization contributed to the rise of an oxidized atmosphere. Nat Commun 2021; 12:7341. [PMID: 34930924 PMCID: PMC8688491 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27589-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
At present, molecular hydrogen (H2) produced through Fe(II) oxidation during serpentinization of ultramafic rocks represents a small fraction of the global sink for O2 due to limited exposures of ultramafic rocks. In contrast, ultramafic rocks such as komatiites were much more common in the Early Earth and H2 production via serpentinization was a likely factor in maintaining an O2-free atmosphere throughout most of the Archean. Using thermodynamic simulations, this work quantifies the global O2 consumption attributed to serpentinization during the past 3.5 billion years. Results show that H2 generation is strongly dependent on rock compositions where serpentinization of more magnesian lithologies generated substantially higher amounts of H2. Consumption of >2 Tmole O2 yr-1 via low-temperature serpentinization of Archean continents and seafloor is possible. This O2 sink diminished greatly towards the end of the Archean as ultramafic rocks became less common and helped set the stage for the Great Oxidation Event.
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Lyons TW, Diamond CW, Planavsky NJ, Reinhard CT, Li C. Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview. ASTROBIOLOGY 2021; 21:906-923. [PMID: 34314605 PMCID: PMC8403206 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
The long history of life on Earth has unfolded as a cause-and-effect relationship with the evolving amount of oxygen (O2) in the oceans and atmosphere. Oxygen deficiency characterized our planet's first 2 billion years, yet evidence for biological O2 production and local enrichments in the surface ocean appear long before the first accumulations of O2 in the atmosphere roughly 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago. Much has been written about this fundamental transition and the related balance between biological O2 production and sinks coupled to deep Earth processes that could buffer against the accumulation of biogenic O2. However, the relationship between complex life (eukaryotes, including animals) and later oxygenation is less clear. Some data suggest O2 was higher but still mostly low for another billion and a half years before increasing again around 800 million years ago, potentially setting a challenging course for complex life during its initial development and ecological expansion. The apparent rise in O2 around 800 million years ago is coincident with major developments in complex life. Multiple geochemical and paleontological records point to a major biogeochemical transition at that time, but whether rising and still dynamic biospheric oxygen triggered or merely followed from innovations in eukaryotic ecology, including the emergence of animals, is still debated. This paper focuses on the geochemical records of Earth's middle history, roughly 1.8 to 0.5 billion years ago, as a backdrop for exploring possible cause-and-effect relationships with biological evolution and the primary controls that may have set its pace, including solid Earth/tectonic processes, nutrient limitation, and their possible linkages. A richer mechanistic understanding of the interplay between coevolving life and Earth surface environments can provide a template for understanding and remotely searching for sustained habitability and even life on distant exoplanets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy W. Lyons
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
- Address correspondence to: Timothy W. Lyons, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Charles W. Diamond
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Noah J. Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Christopher T. Reinhard
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
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