Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 18 February 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5712, pp. 1088 - 1091
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105692
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Iron Isotope Constraints on the Archean and Paleoproterozoic Ocean Redox State

Olivier J. Rouxel,1* Andrey Bekker,2 Katrina J. Edwards1

The response of the ocean redox state to the rise of atmospheric oxygen about 2.3 billion years ago (Ga) is a matter of controversy. Here we provide iron isotope evidence that the change in the ocean iron cycle occurred at the same time as the change in the atmospheric redox state. Variable and negative iron isotope values in pyrites older than about 2.3 Ga suggest that an iron-rich global ocean was strongly affected by the deposition of iron oxides. Between 2.3 and 1.8 Ga, positive iron isotope values of pyrite likely reflect an increase in the precipitation of iron sulfides relative to iron oxides in a redox stratified ocean.

1 Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Geomicrobiology Group, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Mail Stop 8, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
2 Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: orouxel{at}whoi.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Evolutionary ecology during the rise of dioxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.
N. H Sleep and D. K Bird (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2651-2664
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Modern iron isotope perspective on the benthic iron shuttle and the redox evolution of ancient oceans.
S. Severmann, T. W. Lyons, A. Anbar, J. McManus, and G. Gordon (2008)
Geology 36, 487-490
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Oxygen Cycle of the Terrestrial Planets: Insights into the Processing and History of Oxygen in Surface Environments.
J. Farquhar and D. T. Johnston (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 463-492
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microscale heterogeneity of Fe isotopes in >3.71 Ga banded iron formation from the Isua Greenstone Belt, southwest Greenland.
M. J. Whitehouse and C. M. Fedo (2007)
Geology 35, 719-722
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Iron isotopes constrain the pathways and formation mechanisms of terrestrial oxide concretions: A tool for tracing iron cycling on Mars?.
M. A. Chan, M. A. Chan, C. M. Johnson, B. L. Beard, J. R. Bowman, and W.T. Parry (2006)
Geosphere 2, 324-332
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Iron isotopes in the early marine diagenetic iron cycle.
M. Staubwasser, F. von Blanckenburg, and R. Schoenberg (2006)
Geology 34, 629-632
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Steroids, triterpenoids and molecular oxygen.
R. E Summons, A. S Bradley, L. L Jahnke, and J. R Waldbauer (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 951-968
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Coupled Fe and S isotope evidence for Archean microbial Fe(III) and sulfate reduction.
C. Archer and D. Vance (2006)
Geology 34, 153-156
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Comment on "Iron isotope constraints on the Archean and Paleoproterozoic ocean redox state"..
(2006)
Science 311, 177
   Full Text »
Comment on "Iron Isotope Constraints on the Archean and Paleoproterozoic Ocean Redox State".
K. E. Yamaguchi and H. Ohmoto (2006)
Science 311, 177a
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Iron Isotope Constraints on the Archean and Paleoproterozoic Ocean Redox State".
O. J. Rouxel, A. Bekker, and K. J. Edwards (2006)
Science 311, 177b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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