Xinming Chen, Chadlin M. Ostrander, Brett J. Holdaway, Brian Kendall, Ariel D. Anbar, Sune G. Nielsen, Jeremy D. Owens
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that molecular oxygen (O2) accumulated in some shallow marine environments beneath the effectively anoxic Archaean atmosphere 4.0 to 2.5 billion years (Ga) ago. Yet, the temporal and spatial distribution of these oxygen oases is not well known. Here we use thallium (Tl) isotope ratios, which are sensitive to manganese oxide burial, to place constraints on the timing and tempo of marine oxygen oases between about 2.65 Ga and 2.50 Ga. Lower-than-crustal authigenic 205Tl/203Tl ratios are common in shales from the approximately 2.65 Ga Jeerinah Formation (Western Australia) and the 2.50 Ga Klein Naute Formation (South Africa). Particularly low 205Tl/203Tl ratios are found at 2.50 Ga, coincident with a pronounced ‘whiff’ of O2. These data can be explained by widespread seafloor manganese oxide burial, a scenario that requires persistent O2 penetration into marine sediments beneath regionally extensive marine oxygen oases. By contrast, 205Tl/203Tl ratios from the 2.60–2.52 Ga Nauga Formation (South Africa) do not deviate from crustal values, suggesting an intervening period of muted seafloor Mn oxide burial. Our data suggest that O2 accumulated over greater spatial extents and to greater depths than previously thought at about 2.65 Ga and that marine oxygenation was spatially and temporally dynamic well before the Great Oxidation Event began at about 2.4 Ga.
越来越多的证据表明,40亿至25亿年前,在有效缺氧的太古宙大气下,一些浅海环境中积累了分子氧(O2)。然而,这些氧气绿洲的时空分布尚不清楚。本文利用对氧化锰埋藏敏感的铊(Tl)同位素比值,确定了2.65 ~ 2.50 Ga之间海洋氧绿洲形成的时间和速度。低于地壳自生的205Tl/203Tl比值在大约2.65 Ga Jeerinah组(西澳大利亚)和2.50 Ga Klein Naute组(南非)的页岩中很常见。在2.50 Ga处发现205Tl/203Tl比率特别低,与明显的O2“气味”相一致。这些数据可以用广泛的海底氧化锰埋藏来解释,这种情况需要氧气持续渗透到区域广泛的海洋氧气绿洲下的海洋沉积物中。相比之下,来自南非2.60-2.52 Ga Nauga组的205Tl/203Tl比值没有偏离地壳值,表明在此期间海底Mn氧化物埋藏较弱。我们的数据表明,在大约2.65 Ga时,O2积累的空间范围和深度比之前认为的要大,并且在大约2.4 Ga大氧化事件开始之前,海洋氧合在空间和时间上都是动态的。
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