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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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Slotznick SP, Johnson JE, Rasmussen B, Raub TD, Webb SM, Zi JW, Kirschvink JL, Fischer WW. Reexamination of 2.5-Ga "whiff" of oxygen interval points to anoxic ocean before GOE. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabj7190. [PMID: 34985950 PMCID: PMC8730617 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj7190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Transient appearances of oxygen have been inferred before the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) [∼2.3 billion years (Ga) ago] based on redox-sensitive elements such as Mo and S—most prominently from the ∼2.5-Ga Mount McRae Shale in Western Australia. We present new spatially resolved data including synchrotron-based x-ray spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry to characterize the petrogenesis of the Mount McRae Shale. Sediments were primarily composed of organic matter and volcanic ash (a potential source of Mo), with U-Pb ages revealing extremely low sedimentation rates. Catagenesis created bedding-parallel microfractures, which subsequently acted as fluid pathways for metasomatic alteration and recent oxidative weathering. Our collective observations suggest that the bulk chemical datasets pointing toward a “whiff” of oxygen developed during postdepositional events. Nonzero Δ33S in trace-metal–poor, early diagenetic pyrite and the unusually enriched organic carbon at low sedimentation rates instead suggest that environmental oxygen levels were negligible ∼150 million years before the GOE.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jena E. Johnson
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA
| | - Birger Rasmussen
- School of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
| | - Timothy D. Raub
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK
- Geoheritage Research Institute, Arlington Heights, IL 60005, USA
| | - Samuel M. Webb
- Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, Stanford University, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
| | - Jian-Wei Zi
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
| | - Joseph L. Kirschvink
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Woodward W. Fischer
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
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The Great Oxidation Event expanded the genetic repertoire of arsenic metabolism and cycling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:10414-10421. [PMID: 32350143 PMCID: PMC7229686 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001063117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The rise of oxygen on the early Earth about 2.4 billion years ago reorganized the redox cycle of harmful metal(loids), including that of arsenic, which doubtlessly imposed substantial barriers to the physiology and diversification of life. Evaluating the adaptive biological responses to these environmental challenges is inherently difficult because of the paucity of fossil records. Here we applied molecular clock analyses to 13 gene families participating in principal pathways of arsenic resistance and cycling, to explore the nature of early arsenic biogeocycles and decipher feedbacks associated with planetary oxygenation. Our results reveal the advent of nascent arsenic resistance systems under the anoxic environment predating the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), with the primary function of detoxifying reduced arsenic compounds that were abundant in Archean environments. To cope with the increased toxicity of oxidized arsenic species that occurred as oxygen built up in Earth's atmosphere, we found that parts of preexisting detoxification systems for trivalent arsenicals were merged with newly emerged pathways that originated via convergent evolution. Further expansion of arsenic resistance systems was made feasible by incorporation of oxygen-dependent enzymatic pathways into the detoxification network. These genetic innovations, together with adaptive responses to other redox-sensitive metals, provided organisms with novel mechanisms for adaption to changes in global biogeocycles that emerged as a consequence of the GOE.
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Catling DC, Zahnle KJ. The Archean atmosphere. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaax1420. [PMID: 32133393 PMCID: PMC7043912 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax1420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2019] [Accepted: 12/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The atmosphere of the Archean eon-one-third of Earth's history-is important for understanding the evolution of our planet and Earth-like exoplanets. New geological proxies combined with models constrain atmospheric composition. They imply surface O2 levels <10-6 times present, N2 levels that were similar to today or possibly a few times lower, and CO2 and CH4 levels ranging ~10 to 2500 and 102 to 104 times modern amounts, respectively. The greenhouse gas concentrations were sufficient to offset a fainter Sun. Climate moderation by the carbon cycle suggests average surface temperatures between 0° and 40°C, consistent with occasional glaciations. Isotopic mass fractionation of atmospheric xenon through the Archean until atmospheric oxygenation is best explained by drag of xenon ions by hydrogen escaping rapidly into space. These data imply that substantial loss of hydrogen oxidized the Earth. Despite these advances, detailed understanding of the coevolving solid Earth, biosphere, and atmosphere remains elusive, however.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C. Catling
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences and cross-campus Astrobiology Program, Box 351310, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Kevin J. Zahnle
- Space Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
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Lambrecht N, Katsev S, Wittkop C, Hall SJ, Sheik CS, Picard A, Fakhraee M, Swanner ED. Biogeochemical and physical controls on methane fluxes from two ferruginous meromictic lakes. GEOBIOLOGY 2020; 18:54-69. [PMID: 31592570 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Revised: 08/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/31/2019] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Meromictic lakes with anoxic bottom waters often have active methane cycles whereby methane is generally produced biogenically under anoxic conditions and oxidized in oxic surface waters prior to reaching the atmosphere. Lakes that contain dissolved ferrous iron in their deep waters (i.e., ferruginous) are rare, but valuable, as geochemical analogues of the conditions that dominated the Earth's oceans during the Precambrian when interactions between the iron and methane cycles could have shaped the greenhouse regulation of the planet's climate. Here, we explored controls on the methane fluxes from Brownie Lake and Canyon Lake, two ferruginous meromictic lakes that contain similar concentrations (max. >1 mM) of dissolved methane in their bottom waters. The order Methanobacteriales was the dominant methanogen detected in both lakes. At Brownie Lake, methanogen abundance, an increase in methane concentration with respect to depths closer to the sediment, and isotopic data suggest methanogenesis is an active process in the anoxic water column. At Canyon Lake, methanogenesis occurred primarily in the sediment. The most abundant aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria present in both water columns were associated with the Gammaproteobacteria, with little evidence of anaerobic methane oxidizing organisms being present or active. Direct measurements at the surface revealed a methane flux from Brownie Lake that was two orders of magnitude greater than the flux from Canyon Lake. Comparison of measured versus calculated turbulent diffusive fluxes indicates that most of the methane flux at Brownie Lake was non-diffusive. Although the turbulent diffusive methane flux at Canyon Lake was attenuated by methane oxidizing bacteria, dissolved methane was detected in the epilimnion, suggestive of lateral transport of methane from littoral sediments. These results highlight the importance of direct measurements in estimating the total methane flux from water columns, and that non-diffusive transport of methane may be important to consider from other ferruginous systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Lambrecht
- Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Sergei Katsev
- Department of Physics, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA
- Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA
| | - Chad Wittkop
- Department of Chemistry and Geology, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN, USA
| | - Steven J Hall
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Cody S Sheik
- Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA
| | - Aude Picard
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - Mojtaba Fakhraee
- Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA
| | - Elizabeth D Swanner
- Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
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Killingsworth BA, Sansjofre P, Philippot P, Cartigny P, Thomazo C, Lalonde SV. Constraining the rise of oxygen with oxygen isotopes. Nat Commun 2019; 10:4924. [PMID: 31664027 PMCID: PMC6820740 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12883-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 10/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
After permanent atmospheric oxygenation, anomalous sulfur isotope compositions were lost from sedimentary rocks, demonstrating that atmospheric chemistry ceded its control of Earth’s surficial sulfur cycle to weathering. However, mixed signals of anoxia and oxygenation in the sulfur isotope record between 2.5 to 2.3 billion years (Ga) ago require independent clarification, for example via oxygen isotopes in sulfate. Here we show <2.31 Ga sedimentary barium sulfates (barites) from the Turee Creek Basin, W. Australia with positive sulfur isotope anomalies of ∆33S up to + 1.55‰ and low δ18O down to −19.5‰. The unequivocal origin of this combination of signals is sulfide oxidation in meteoric water. Geochemical and sedimentary evidence suggests that these S-isotope anomalies were transferred from the paleo-continent under an oxygenated atmosphere. Our findings indicate that incipient oxidative continental weathering, ca. 2.8–2.5 Ga or earlier, may be diagnosed with such a combination of low δ18O and high ∆33S in sulfates. The loss of anomalous sulfur isotope compositions from sedimentary rocks has been considered a symptom of permanent atmospheric oxygenation. Here the authors show sulfur and oxygen isotope evidence from < 2.31 Ga sedimentary barium sulphates (barites) from the Turee Creek Basin, W. Australia, demonstrating the influence of local non-atmospheric processes on anomalous sulfur isotope signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- B A Killingsworth
- CNRS-UMR6538 Laboratoire Géosciences Océan, European Institute for Marine Studies, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 29280, Plouzané, France. .,Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne-Paris Cité, UMR 7154, CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, 75005, Paris Cedex 05, France.
| | - P Sansjofre
- CNRS-UMR6538 Laboratoire Géosciences Océan, European Institute for Marine Studies, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 29280, Plouzané, France.,Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, 75005, Paris, France
| | - P Philippot
- Géosciences Montpellier, CNRS-UMR 5243, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.,Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne-Paris Cité, UMR 7154, CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, 75005, Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - P Cartigny
- Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne-Paris Cité, UMR 7154, CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, 75005, Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - C Thomazo
- UMR CNRS/uB 6282 Laboratoire Biogéosciences, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 Bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - S V Lalonde
- CNRS-UMR6538 Laboratoire Géosciences Océan, European Institute for Marine Studies, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 29280, Plouzané, France
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Fakhraee M, Katsev S. Organic sulfur was integral to the Archean sulfur cycle. Nat Commun 2019; 10:4556. [PMID: 31591394 PMCID: PMC6779745 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12396-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The chemistry of the Early Earth is widely inferred from the elemental and isotopic compositions of sulfidic sedimentary rocks, which are presumed to have formed globally through the reduction of seawater sulfate or locally from hydrothermally supplied sulfide. Here we argue that, in the anoxic Archean oceans, pyrite could form in the absence of ambient sulfate from organic sulfur contained within living cells. Sulfides could be produced through mineralization of reduced sulfur compounds or reduction of organic-sourced sulfite. Reactive transport modeling suggests that, for sulfate concentrations up to tens of micromolar, organic sulfur would have supported 20 to 100% of sedimentary pyrite precipitation and up to 75% of microbial sulfur reduction. The results offer an alternative explanation for the low range of δ34S in Archean sulfides, and raise a possibility that sulfate scarcity delayed the evolution of dissimilatory sulfate reduction until the initial ocean oxygenation around 2.7 Ga.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mojtaba Fakhraee
- Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth, 2205 E. 5th St., Duluth, MN, 55812, USA.
| | - Sergei Katsev
- Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth, 2205 E. 5th St., Duluth, MN, 55812, USA.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, 55812, USA.
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Thiemens MH, Lin M. Use of Isotope Effects To Understand the Present and Past of the Atmosphere and Climate and Track the Origin of Life. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201812322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark H. Thiemens
- Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryUniversity of California San Diego La Jolla California 92093 USA
| | - Mang Lin
- Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryUniversity of California San Diego La Jolla California 92093 USA
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Thiemens MH, Lin M. Use of Isotope Effects To Understand the Present and Past of the Atmosphere and Climate and Track the Origin of Life. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019; 58:6826-6844. [PMID: 30633432 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201812322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Stable isotope ratio measurements have been used as a measure of a wide variety of processes, including solar system evolution, geological formational temperatures, tracking of atmospheric gas and aerosol chemical transformation, and is the only means by which past global temperatures may be determined over long time scales. Conventionally, isotope effects derive from differences of isotopically substituted molecules in isotope vibrational energy, bond strength, velocity, gravity, and evaporation/condensation. The variations in isotope ratio, such as 18 O/16 O (δ18 O) and 17 O/16 O (δ17 O) are dependent upon mass differences with δ17 O/δ18 O=0.5, due to the relative mass differences (1 amu vs. 2 amu). Relations that do not follow this are termed mass independent and are the focus of this Minireview. In chemical reactions such as ozone formation, a δ17 O/δ18 O=1 is observed. Physical chemical models capture most parameters but differ in basic approach and are reviewed. The mass independent effect is observed in atmospheric species and used to track their chemistry at the modern and ancient Earth, Mars, and the early solar system (meteorites).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark H Thiemens
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA
| | - Mang Lin
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA
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