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Science 26 March 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5666, pp. 2004 - 2007
DOI: 10.1126/science.1092296
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Reports

Oxygen Isotope Constraints on the Sulfur Cycle over the Past 10 Million Years

Alexandra V. Turchyn* and Daniel P. Schrag

Oxygen isotopes in marine sulfate ({delta}18OSO4) measured in marine barite show variability over the past 10 million years, including a 5per mil decrease during the Plio-Pleistocene, with near-constant values during the Miocene that are slightly enriched over the modern ocean. A numerical model suggests that sea level fluctuations during Plio-Pleistocene glacial cycles affected the sulfur cycle by reducing the area of continental shelves and increasing the oxidative weathering of pyrite. The data also require that sulfate concentrations were 10 to 20% lower in the late Miocene than today.

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: avan{at}fas.harvard.edu

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