A productivity collapse to end earth's great oxidation

Author Posting. © National Academy of Sciences, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (35), (2019): 17207-17212, doi:10.1073/pnas.1900325116.It has been hypothesized that the overall size of—or efficiency of carbon export from—the biosphere decreased at the end of the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) (ca. 2,400 to 2,050 Ma). However, the timing, tempo, and trigger for this decrease remain poorly constrained. Here we test this hypothesis by studying the isotope geochemistry of sulfate minerals from the Belcher Group, in subarctic Canada. Using insights from sulfur and barium isotope measurements, combined with radiometric ages from bracketing strata, we infer that the sulfate minerals studied here record ambient sulfate in the immediate aftermath of the GOE (ca. 2,018 Ma). These sulfate minerals captured negative triple-oxygen isotope anomalies as low as ∼ −0.8‰. Such negative values occurring shortly after the GOE require a rapid reduction in primary productivity of >80%, although even larger reductions are plausible. Given that these data imply a collapse in primary productivity rather than export efficiency, the trigger for this shift in the Earth system must reflect a change in the availability of nutrients, such as phosphorus. Cumulatively, these data highlight that Earth’s GOE is a tale of feast and famine: A geologically unprecedented reduction in the size of the biosphere occurred across the end-GOE transition.Olivia M. J. Dagnaud assisted during fieldwork. S. V. Lalonde and E. A. Sperling provided helpful comments on an early version of the manuscript. We thank N. J. Planavsky and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive feedback. M.S.W.H. was supported by an NSERC PGS-D and student research grants from National Geographic, the APS Lewis and Clark Fund, Northern Science Training Program, McGill University Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Awards, Geological Society of America, Mineralogical Association of Canada, and Stanford University. P.W.C. acknowledges support from the University of Colorado Boulder, the Agouron Institute Geobiology postdoctoral Fellowship program, a Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship–Doctoral Program scholarship, and the NSTP. Y.P. was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS (XDB26000000). T.J.H. thanks Maureen E. Auro for laboratory assistance and the NSF for supporting isotope research in the NIRVANA Labs.2020-02-1

Precise age of Bangiomorpha pubescens dates the origin of eukaryotic photosynthesis

Although the geological record indicates that eukaryotes evolved by 1.9–1.4 Ga, their early evolution is poorly resolved taxonomically and chronologically. The fossil red alga Bangiomorpha pubescens is the only recognized crown-group eukaryote older than ca. 0.8 Ga and marks the earliest known expression of extant forms of multicellularity and eukaryotic photosynthesis. Because it postdates the divergence between the red and green algae and the prior endosymbiotic event that gave rise to the chloroplast, B. pubescens is uniquely important for calibrating eukaryotic evolution. However, molecular clock estimates for the divergence between the red and green algae are highly variable, and some analyses estimate this split to be younger than the widely inferred but poorly constrained first appearance age of 1.2 Ga for B. pubescens. As a result, many molecular clock studies reject this fossil ex post facto. Here we present new Re-Os isotopic ages from sedimentary rocks that stratigraphically bracket the occurrence of B. pubescens in the Bylot Supergroup of Baffin Island and revise its first appearance to 1.047 +0.013/–0.017 Ga. This date is 150 m.y. younger than commonly held interpretations and permits more precise estimates of early eukaryotic evolution. Using cross-calibrated molecular clock analyses with the new fossil age, we calculate that photosynthesis within the Eukarya emerged ca. 1.25 Ga. This date for primary plastid endosymbiosis serves as a benchmark for interpreting the fossil record of early eukaryotes and evaluating their role in the Proterozoic biosphere

Precise age of Bangiomorpha pubescens dates the origin of eukaryotic photosynthesis

Although the geological record indicates that eukaryotes evolved by 1.9–1.4 Ga, their early evolution is poorly resolved taxonomically and chronologically. The fossil red alga Bangiomorpha pubescens is the only recognized crown-group eukaryote older than ca. 0.8 Ga and marks the earliest known expression of extant forms of multicellularity and eukaryotic photosynthesis. Because it postdates the divergence between the red and green algae and the prior endosymbiotic event that gave rise to the chloroplast, B. pubescens is uniquely important for calibrating eukaryotic evolution. However, molecular clock estimates for the divergence between the red and green algae are highly variable, and some analyses estimate this split to be younger than the widely inferred but poorly constrained first appearance age of 1.2 Ga for B. pubescens. As a result, many molecular clock studies reject this fossil ex post facto. Here we present new Re-Os isotopic ages from sedimentary rocks that stratigraphically bracket the occurrence of B. pubescens in the Bylot Supergroup of Baffin Island and revise its first appearance to 1.047 +0.013/–0.017 Ga. This date is 150 m.y. younger than commonly held interpretations and permits more precise estimates of early eukaryotic evolution. Using cross-calibrated molecular clock analyses with the new fossil age, we calculate that photosynthesis within the Eukarya emerged ca. 1.25 Ga. This date for primary plastid endosymbiosis serves as a benchmark for interpreting the fossil record of early eukaryotes and evaluating their role in the Proterozoic biosphere

Sustained increases in atmospheric oxygen and marine productivity in the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic eras

A geologically rapid Neoproterozoic oxygenation event is commonly linked to the appearance of marine animal groups in the fossil record. However, there is still debate about what evidence from the sedimentary geochemical record—if any—provides strong support for a persistent shift in surface oxygen immediately preceding the rise of animals. We present statistical learning analyses of a large dataset of geochemical data and associated geological context from the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic sedimentary record and then use Earth system modelling to link trends in redox-sensitive trace metal and organic carbon concentrations to the oxygenation of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. We do not find evidence for the wholesale oxygenation of Earth’s oceans in the late Neoproterozoic era. We do, however, reconstruct a moderate long-term increase in atmospheric oxygen and marine productivity. These changes to the Earth system would have increased dissolved oxygen and food supply in shallow-water habitats during the broad interval of geologic time in which the major animal groups first radiated. This approach provides some of the most direct evidence for potential physiological drivers of the Cambrian radiation, while highlighting the importance of later Palaeozoic oxygenation in the evolution of the modern Earth system

A carbonate molybdenum isotope and cerium anomaly record across the end-GOE: Local records of global oxygenation

International audienceEarth's Great Oxidation Event (GOE), ca. 2.5-2.0 Ga, was one of the most extreme environmental perturbations in the history of the planet. In addition to the first sustained accumulation of O2 in the atmosphere, the latter half of the GOE is associated with a very large positive carbon isotope excursion, both in terms of magnitude and inferred duration. The end of the GOE may have been associated with a decrease in atmospheric oxygen levels, although this transition remains poorly understood. We test if this suggested decline in atmospheric O2 is reflected in the molybdenum stable isotope compositions (δ98Mo) and Ce anomalies of a large number (N = 299) of carbonate sedimentary rocks collected from Finnish Lapland and the Canadian Labrador Trough and Belcher Group, which collectively span ca. 2.1-1.88 Ga. Clear evidence for a shift in redox conditions across the end-GOE is obscured by coupled stratigraphic variations in δ98Mo values, Ce anomalies, and Mn concentrations, suggesting local controls on these redox proxies as a function of depositional environment, likely as a result of particulate shuttling of Mo and Ce associated with Mn redox cycling across a chemocline. The most negative Ce anomalies recorded in the Belcher Group (98Mo values and Ce anomalies for the evolution of marine redox conditions

A productivity collapse to end earth's great oxidation

Author Posting. © National Academy of Sciences, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (35), (2019): 17207-17212, doi:10.1073/pnas.1900325116.It has been hypothesized that the overall size of—or efficiency of carbon export from—the biosphere decreased at the end of the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) (ca. 2,400 to 2,050 Ma). However, the timing, tempo, and trigger for this decrease remain poorly constrained. Here we test this hypothesis by studying the isotope geochemistry of sulfate minerals from the Belcher Group, in subarctic Canada. Using insights from sulfur and barium isotope measurements, combined with radiometric ages from bracketing strata, we infer that the sulfate minerals studied here record ambient sulfate in the immediate aftermath of the GOE (ca. 2,018 Ma). These sulfate minerals captured negative triple-oxygen isotope anomalies as low as ∼ −0.8‰. Such negative values occurring shortly after the GOE require a rapid reduction in primary productivity of >80%, although even larger reductions are plausible. Given that these data imply a collapse in primary productivity rather than export efficiency, the trigger for this shift in the Earth system must reflect a change in the availability of nutrients, such as phosphorus. Cumulatively, these data highlight that Earth’s GOE is a tale of feast and famine: A geologically unprecedented reduction in the size of the biosphere occurred across the end-GOE transition.Olivia M. J. Dagnaud assisted during fieldwork. S. V. Lalonde and E. A. Sperling provided helpful comments on an early version of the manuscript. We thank N. J. Planavsky and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive feedback. M.S.W.H. was supported by an NSERC PGS-D and student research grants from National Geographic, the APS Lewis and Clark Fund, Northern Science Training Program, McGill University Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Awards, Geological Society of America, Mineralogical Association of Canada, and Stanford University. P.W.C. acknowledges support from the University of Colorado Boulder, the Agouron Institute Geobiology postdoctoral Fellowship program, a Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship–Doctoral Program scholarship, and the NSTP. Y.P. was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS (XDB26000000). T.J.H. thanks Maureen E. Auro for laboratory assistance and the NSF for supporting isotope research in the NIRVANA Labs.2020-02-1

Direct dating of deposition and rift-related alteration of fossil barren red bed units in the North Sea

Supplementary data

Direct dating of deposition and rift-related alteration of fossil barren red bed units in the North Sea

Supplementary methods