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Science 6 July 2001:
Vol. 293. no. 5527, pp. 92 - 95
DOI: 10.1126/science.1058424
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Reports

Massive Expansion of Marine Archaea During a Mid-Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event

Marcel M. M. Kuypers,1* Peter Blokker,1dagger Jochen Erbacher,2 Hanno Kinkel,1 Richard D. Pancost,1ddagger Stefan Schouten,1 Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté1§

Biogeochemical and stable carbon isotopic analysis of black-shale sequences deposited during an Albian oceanic anoxic event (~112 million years ago) indicate that up to 80 weight percent of sedimentary organic carbon is derived from marine, nonthermophilic archaea. The carbon-13 content of archaeal molecular fossils indicates that these archaea were living chemoautotrophically. Their massive expansion may have been a response to the strong stratification of the ocean during this anoxic event. Indeed, the sedimentary record of archaeal membrane lipids suggests that this anoxic event marks a time in Earth history at which certain hyperthermophilic archaea adapted to low-temperature environments.

1 Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Post Office Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Netherlands.
2 Referat Meeresgeologie, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hannover, Germany.
*   Present address: Department of Biogeochemsitry, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celciusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359 Germany.

dagger    Present address: Department of Analytical and Applied Spectroscopy, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1083, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands.

ddagger    Present address: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.

§   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: damste{at}nioz.nl

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