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Science 20 December 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5602, pp. 2372 - 2374
DOI: 10.1126/science.1078265
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Reports

Calibration of Sulfate Levels in the Archean Ocean

Kirsten S. Habicht,1 Michael Gade,1 Bo Thamdrup,1 Peter Berg,2 Donald E. Canfield1*

The size of the marine sulfate reservoir has grown through Earth's history, reflecting the accumulation of oxygen into the atmosphere. Sulfur isotope fractionation experiments on marine and freshwater sulfate reducers, together with the isotope record, imply that oceanic Archean sulfate concentrations were <200 µM, which is less than one-hundredth of present marine sulfate levels and one-fifth of what was previously thought. Such low sulfate concentrations were maintained by volcanic outgassing of SO2 gas, and severely suppressed sulfate reduction rates allowed for a carbon cycle dominated by methanogenesis.

1 Danish Center for Earth System Science and Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark.
2 Department of Environmental Sciences, Clark Hall, University of Virginia, VA 22903, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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