St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Register / Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Moderate levels of oxygenation during the late stage of Earth's Great Oxidation Event

Thumbnail
View/Open
OssaOssa_2022_EPSL_Moderatelevels_CC.pdf (2.745Mb)
Date
15/09/2022
Author
Ossa Ossa, Frantz
Spangenberg, Jorge E.
Bekker, Andrey
König, Stephan
Stüeken, Eva E.
Hofmann, Axel
Poulton, Simon W.
Yierpan, Aierken
Varas-Reus, Maria I.
Eickmann, Benjamin
Andersen, Morten B.
Schoenberg, Ronny
Funder
NERC
Grant ID
NE/V010824/1
Keywords
Paleoproterozoic
Lomagundi carbon isotope excursion
Great Oxidation Event
Francevillian Group
Biogeochemical cycles
GE Environmental Sciences
QE Geology
NDAS
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
MCC
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The later stages of Earth's transition to a permanently oxygenated atmosphere during the Great Oxidation Event (GOE; ∼2.43–2.06 Ga) is commonly linked with the suggestion of an “oxygen overshoot” during the ∼2.22–2.06 Ga Lomagundi Event (LE), which represents Earth's most pronounced and longest-lived positive carbon isotope excursion. However, the magnitude and extent of atmosphere-ocean oxygenation and implications for the biosphere during this critical period in Earth's history remain poorly constrained. Here, we present nitrogen (N), selenium (Se), and carbon (C) isotope data, as well as bio-essential element concentrations, for Paleoproterozoic marine shales deposited during the LE. The data provide evidence for a highly productive and well-oxygenated photic zone, with both inner and outer-shelf marine environments characterized by nitrate- and Se oxyanion-replete conditions. However, the redoxcline subsequently encroached back onto the inner shelf during global-scale deoxygenation of the atmosphere-ocean system at the end of the LE, leading to locally enhanced water column denitrification and quantitative reduction of selenium oxyanions. We propose that nitrate-replete conditions associated with fully oxygenated continental shelf settings were a common feature during the LE, but nitrification was not sufficiently widespread for the aerobic nitrogen cycle to impact the isotopic composition of the global ocean N inventory. Placed in the context of Earth's broader oxygenation history, our findings indicate that O2 levels in the atmosphere-ocean system were likely much lower than modern concentrations. Early Paleoproterozoic biogeochemical cycles were thus far less advanced than after Neoproterozoic oxygenation.
Citation
Ossa Ossa , F , Spangenberg , J E , Bekker , A , König , S , Stüeken , E E , Hofmann , A , Poulton , S W , Yierpan , A , Varas-Reus , M I , Eickmann , B , Andersen , M B & Schoenberg , R 2022 , ' Moderate levels of oxygenation during the late stage of Earth's Great Oxidation Event ' , Earth and Planetary Science Letters , vol. 594 , 117716 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117716
Publication
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117716
ISSN
0012-821X
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Description
Funding: FOO and RS acknowledge financial support from the University of Tübingen and the German Research Foundation (DFG Grant SCHO1071/11-1). FOO and MBA are thankful for support from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC grant NE/V004824/1). The stable isotope facilities at IDYST were funded by the University of Lausanne. SK, YA and MIV-R acknowledge European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant 636808 (O2RIGIN). AH and FOO acknowledge support from National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF Grant 75892). SK also acknowledges the Ramon y Cajal contract (RYC2020-030014-I). Participation by AB was supported by Discovery and Accelerator Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and ACS PF grant (624840ND2). EES acknowledges funding from a NERC Frontiers grant (NE/V010824/1). SWP acknowledges support from a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. MIV-R additionally acknowledges funding support from the German Research Foundation (DFG Grant VA 1568/1-1).
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/25858

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter