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Science 7 March 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5868, p. 1336
DOI: 10.1126/science.1151414
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Technical Comments

Response to Comment on "Early Archaean Microorganisms Preferred Elemental Sulfur, Not Sulfate"

Pascal Philippot,1* Mark Van Zuilen,1 Kevin Lepot,1 Christophe Thomazo,1 James Farquhar,2 Martin J. Van Kranendonk3

Our knowledge of the sulfur cycle on early Earth is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, there exist enough geochemical constraints from the rock record to show that the theoretical mixing models proposed by Bao et al. are highly unlikely to account for the range of {delta}34S and {Delta}33S values recorded for the microscopic sulfides at the North Pole.

1 Equipe Géobiosphère Actuelle et Primitive, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Denis Diderot, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris cedex, France.
2 Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
3 Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain Street, East Perth, WA 6004, Australia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: philippot{at}ipgp.jussieu.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)