Barite, BIFs and bugs: Evidence for the evolution of the Earth's earliest hydrosphere

The presence of relatively abundant bedded sulfate deposits before 3.2 Ga and after 1.8 Ga, the peak in iron formation abundance between 3.2 Ga and 1.8 Ga, and the aqueous geochemistry of sulfur and iron together suggest that the redox state, and the abundances of sulfur and iron in the hydrosphere varied widely during the Archean and Proterozoic. We propose a layered hydrosphere prior to 3.2 Ga in which sulfate produced by atmospheric photolytic reactions was enriched in an upper layer, whereas the underlying layer was reduced and sulfur-poor. Between 3.2 Ga and 2.4 Ga, sulfate reduction removed sulfate from the upper layer, producing broadly uniform, reduced, sulfur-poor and iron-rich oceans. As a result of increasing atmospheric oxygenation around 2.4 Ga, the flux of sulfate into the hydrosphere by oxidative weathering was greatly enhanced, producing layered oceans, with sulfate-enriched, iron-poor surface waters and reduced, sulfur-poor and iron-rich bottom waters. The rate at which this process proceeded varied between basins depending on the size and local environment of the basin. By 1.8 Ga, the hydrosphere was, relatively sulfate-rich and iron-poor throughout. Variations in sulfur and iron abundances suggest that the redox state of the oceans was buffered by iron before 2.4 Ga and by sulfur after 1.8 Ga.

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Date (Publication)
2004-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/49026

Citation identifier
Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(04)00034-2

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Huston, D.L.

 1
Author

Logan, G.A.

 2
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ED
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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  • Scientific Journal Paper

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

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  • Published_External

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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CC-BY

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4.0

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

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2018-11-01T00:00:00
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https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

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Unclassified
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English
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UTF8

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Non geographic dataset
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Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/a05f7892-b999-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

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GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Document
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nonGeographicDataset

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Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/49026

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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-b999-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-22T08:35:27
Date info (Creation)
2003-06-30T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

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Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

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