Nabil A. Shawwa , Thomas R. McLoughlin-Coleman , Michael G. Babechuk , Maryam Shahabi Far , James E. Mungall , Robert H. Rainbird
{"title":"地球上最古老的陆地红床是约 2.3 Ga 大氧化事件的直接证据","authors":"Nabil A. Shawwa , Thomas R. McLoughlin-Coleman , Michael G. Babechuk , Maryam Shahabi Far , James E. Mungall , Robert H. Rainbird","doi":"10.1016/j.precamres.2024.107423","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Reconstructing the trajectory of Earth’s initial rise of atmospheric oxygen (i.e., the Great Oxidation Event, GOE) remains a significant but important challenge due to the intricate connections between oxygen and life. Further refinement in our understanding of the GOE requires establishing tighter links between geochemical and mineralogical oxygenation proxies specifically in terrestrial environments where signals reflect oxygen accumulation beyond realms of localized production. The appearance of terrestrial red beds in the Paleoproterozoic rock record is oft-cited evidence for the GOE; however, there is a lack of robust evidence that establishes Fe(III)-(oxy)(hydr)oxides (now hematite) as a primary clastic sedimentary feature, and often insufficient stratigraphic and geochronological context to link red beds to other oxygenation proxies. This study revisits the transition from the youngest detrital pyrite- and uraninite-hosting terrestrial (alluvial-fluvial) strata to the oldest reddened fluvial strata in the <em>ca.</em> 2.45–2.22 Ga Huronian Supergroup, with the aim to directly link the mineralogy of the latter deposits to environmental oxygenation and thus the GOE. Key fluvial sandstone units preserve hematite as rims of “dust” on detrital quartz encased by epitaxial quartz overgrowth cements, providing unequivocal evidence for Fe(III)-(oxy)(hydr)oxide adhesion to detrital quartz during early meteoric diagenesis, and thus indicating terrestrial Fe oxidation pathways were more widespread than oxidized paleosols formed at this time. Geochronological constraints place the appearance of these terrestrial red beds at ∼2.31 Ga, timing that closely matches with the S-isotope evidence for the GOE in correlative strata of the Transvaal Supergroup. The S-isotope and red bed proxy records show promise for a closely coupled oxygenation threshold, with the advantage that they are typically preserved in different depositional environments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49674,"journal":{"name":"Precambrian Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926824001360/pdfft?md5=a79c5e808986e4d014a735538664ae72&pid=1-s2.0-S0301926824001360-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Earth’s oldest terrestrial red beds as direct evidence for the Great Oxidation Event ca. 2.3 Ga\",\"authors\":\"Nabil A. Shawwa , Thomas R. McLoughlin-Coleman , Michael G. Babechuk , Maryam Shahabi Far , James E. Mungall , Robert H. Rainbird\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.precamres.2024.107423\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><p>Reconstructing the trajectory of Earth’s initial rise of atmospheric oxygen (i.e., the Great Oxidation Event, GOE) remains a significant but important challenge due to the intricate connections between oxygen and life. Further refinement in our understanding of the GOE requires establishing tighter links between geochemical and mineralogical oxygenation proxies specifically in terrestrial environments where signals reflect oxygen accumulation beyond realms of localized production. The appearance of terrestrial red beds in the Paleoproterozoic rock record is oft-cited evidence for the GOE; however, there is a lack of robust evidence that establishes Fe(III)-(oxy)(hydr)oxides (now hematite) as a primary clastic sedimentary feature, and often insufficient stratigraphic and geochronological context to link red beds to other oxygenation proxies. This study revisits the transition from the youngest detrital pyrite- and uraninite-hosting terrestrial (alluvial-fluvial) strata to the oldest reddened fluvial strata in the <em>ca.</em> 2.45–2.22 Ga Huronian Supergroup, with the aim to directly link the mineralogy of the latter deposits to environmental oxygenation and thus the GOE. Key fluvial sandstone units preserve hematite as rims of “dust” on detrital quartz encased by epitaxial quartz overgrowth cements, providing unequivocal evidence for Fe(III)-(oxy)(hydr)oxide adhesion to detrital quartz during early meteoric diagenesis, and thus indicating terrestrial Fe oxidation pathways were more widespread than oxidized paleosols formed at this time. Geochronological constraints place the appearance of these terrestrial red beds at ∼2.31 Ga, timing that closely matches with the S-isotope evidence for the GOE in correlative strata of the Transvaal Supergroup. The S-isotope and red bed proxy records show promise for a closely coupled oxygenation threshold, with the advantage that they are typically preserved in different depositional environments.</p></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":49674,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Precambrian Research\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-05-23\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926824001360/pdfft?md5=a79c5e808986e4d014a735538664ae72&pid=1-s2.0-S0301926824001360-main.pdf\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Precambrian Research\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"89\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926824001360\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"地球科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Precambrian Research","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926824001360","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Earth’s oldest terrestrial red beds as direct evidence for the Great Oxidation Event ca. 2.3 Ga
Reconstructing the trajectory of Earth’s initial rise of atmospheric oxygen (i.e., the Great Oxidation Event, GOE) remains a significant but important challenge due to the intricate connections between oxygen and life. Further refinement in our understanding of the GOE requires establishing tighter links between geochemical and mineralogical oxygenation proxies specifically in terrestrial environments where signals reflect oxygen accumulation beyond realms of localized production. The appearance of terrestrial red beds in the Paleoproterozoic rock record is oft-cited evidence for the GOE; however, there is a lack of robust evidence that establishes Fe(III)-(oxy)(hydr)oxides (now hematite) as a primary clastic sedimentary feature, and often insufficient stratigraphic and geochronological context to link red beds to other oxygenation proxies. This study revisits the transition from the youngest detrital pyrite- and uraninite-hosting terrestrial (alluvial-fluvial) strata to the oldest reddened fluvial strata in the ca. 2.45–2.22 Ga Huronian Supergroup, with the aim to directly link the mineralogy of the latter deposits to environmental oxygenation and thus the GOE. Key fluvial sandstone units preserve hematite as rims of “dust” on detrital quartz encased by epitaxial quartz overgrowth cements, providing unequivocal evidence for Fe(III)-(oxy)(hydr)oxide adhesion to detrital quartz during early meteoric diagenesis, and thus indicating terrestrial Fe oxidation pathways were more widespread than oxidized paleosols formed at this time. Geochronological constraints place the appearance of these terrestrial red beds at ∼2.31 Ga, timing that closely matches with the S-isotope evidence for the GOE in correlative strata of the Transvaal Supergroup. The S-isotope and red bed proxy records show promise for a closely coupled oxygenation threshold, with the advantage that they are typically preserved in different depositional environments.
期刊介绍:
Precambrian Research publishes studies on all aspects of the early stages of the composition, structure and evolution of the Earth and its planetary neighbours. With a focus on process-oriented and comparative studies, it covers, but is not restricted to, subjects such as:
(1) Chemical, biological, biochemical and cosmochemical evolution; the origin of life; the evolution of the oceans and atmosphere; the early fossil record; palaeobiology;
(2) Geochronology and isotope and elemental geochemistry;
(3) Precambrian mineral deposits;
(4) Geophysical aspects of the early Earth and Precambrian terrains;
(5) Nature, formation and evolution of the Precambrian lithosphere and mantle including magmatic, depositional, metamorphic and tectonic processes.
In addition, the editors particularly welcome integrated process-oriented studies that involve a combination of the above fields and comparative studies that demonstrate the effect of Precambrian evolution on Phanerozoic earth system processes.
Regional and localised studies of Precambrian phenomena are considered appropriate only when the detail and quality allow illustration of a wider process, or when significant gaps in basic knowledge of a particular area can be filled.