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Science 4 August 2000:
Vol. 289. no. 5480, pp. 756 - 758
DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5480.756
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Reports

Atmospheric Influence of Earth's Earliest Sulfur Cycle

James Farquhar,* Huiming Bao, Mark Thiemens

Mass-independent isotopic signatures for delta 33S, delta 34S, and delta 36S from sulfide and sulfate in Precambrian rocks indicate that a change occurred in the sulfur cycle between 2090 and 2450 million years ago (Ma). Before 2450 Ma, the cycle was influenced by gas-phase atmospheric reactions. These atmospheric reactions also played a role in determining the oxidation state of sulfur, implying that atmospheric oxygen partial pressures were low and that the roles of oxidative weathering and of microbial oxidation and reduction of sulfur were minimal. Atmospheric fractionation processes should be considered in the use of sulfur isotopes to study the onset and consequences of microbial fractionation processes in Earth's early history.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. E-mail: jfarquha{at}ucsd.edu (J.F.); hbao{at}ucsd.edu (H.B.); and MHT{at}chem.ucsd.edu (M.T.)
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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