TY - JOUR

T1 - Claypool continued

T2 - Extending the isotopic record of sedimentary sulfate

AU - Crockford, Peter W.

AU - Kunzmann, Marcus

AU - Bekker, Andrey

AU - Hayles, Justin

AU - Bao, Huiming

AU - Halverson, Galen P.

AU - Peng, Yongbo

AU - Bui, Thi H.

AU - Cox, Grant M.

AU - Gibson, Timothy M.

AU - Wörndle, Sarah

AU - Rainbird, Robert

AU - Lepland, Aivo

AU - Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L.

AU - Master, Sharad

AU - Sreenivas, Bulusu

AU - Kuznetsov, Anton

AU - Krupenik, Valery

AU - Wing, Boswell A.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier B.V. Copyright: Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/5/20

Y1 - 2019/5/20

N2 - The Proterozoic Eon spans Earth's middle age during which many important transitions occurred. These transitions include the oxygenation of the atmosphere, emergence of eukaryotic organisms and growth of continents. Since the sulfur and oxygen cycles are intricately linked to most surface biogeochemical processes, these transitions should be recorded in changes to the isotopic composition of marine and terrestrial sulfate minerals. Here we present oxygen (∆ 17 O, δ 18 O) and sulfur (∆ 33 S, δ 34 S) isotope records of Proterozoic sulfate from currently available data together with new measurements of 313 samples from 33 different formations bearing Earth's earliest unambiguous evaporites at 2.4 Ga through to Ediacaran aged deposits. This record depicts distinct intervals with respect to the expression of sulfate isotopes that are not completely captured by established intervals in the geologic timescale. The most salient pattern is the muted ∆ 17 O signatures across the GOE, late Proterozoic and Ediacaran with values that are only slightly more negative than modern marine sulfate, contrasting with highly negative values across the mid-Proterozoic and Cryogenian. We combine these results with estimates of atmospheric composition to produce a gross primary production (GPP) curve for the Proterozoic. Through these results we argue that changes in GPP across Earth history likely help account for many of the changes in the Proterozoic Earth surface environment such as rising atmospheric oxygen, large fluctuations in the size of the marine sulfate reservoir and variations in the isotopic composition of sedimentary sulfate.

AB - The Proterozoic Eon spans Earth's middle age during which many important transitions occurred. These transitions include the oxygenation of the atmosphere, emergence of eukaryotic organisms and growth of continents. Since the sulfur and oxygen cycles are intricately linked to most surface biogeochemical processes, these transitions should be recorded in changes to the isotopic composition of marine and terrestrial sulfate minerals. Here we present oxygen (∆ 17 O, δ 18 O) and sulfur (∆ 33 S, δ 34 S) isotope records of Proterozoic sulfate from currently available data together with new measurements of 313 samples from 33 different formations bearing Earth's earliest unambiguous evaporites at 2.4 Ga through to Ediacaran aged deposits. This record depicts distinct intervals with respect to the expression of sulfate isotopes that are not completely captured by established intervals in the geologic timescale. The most salient pattern is the muted ∆ 17 O signatures across the GOE, late Proterozoic and Ediacaran with values that are only slightly more negative than modern marine sulfate, contrasting with highly negative values across the mid-Proterozoic and Cryogenian. We combine these results with estimates of atmospheric composition to produce a gross primary production (GPP) curve for the Proterozoic. Through these results we argue that changes in GPP across Earth history likely help account for many of the changes in the Proterozoic Earth surface environment such as rising atmospheric oxygen, large fluctuations in the size of the marine sulfate reservoir and variations in the isotopic composition of sedimentary sulfate.

KW - Atmospheric oxygen

KW - Barite

KW - Biosphere

KW - Evaporite

KW - Evolution of life

KW - Gross primary production

KW - Gypsum

KW - Isotope geochemistry

KW - Marine sulfate

KW - Multiple sulfur

KW - Oxygen isotopes

KW - Precambrian

KW - Primary production

KW - Primary productivity

KW - Proterozoic

KW - Sulfate

KW - Sulfur isotopes

KW - Triple oxygen

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063395584&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.02.030

DO - 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.02.030

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85063395584

VL - 513

SP - 200

EP - 225

JO - Chemical Geology

JF - Chemical Geology

SN - 0009-2541

ER -