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Journal ArticleDOI

Multiple sulfur isotopes and the evolution of Earth's surface sulfur cycle

01 May 2011-Earth-Science Reviews (Elsevier)-Vol. 106, Iss: 1, pp 161-183
TL;DR: Canfield et al. as discussed by the authors presented a review of recent works in multiple sulfur isotope geochemistry with a focus on results that inform our understanding of biogeochemical processes and Earth surface evolution.
About: This article is published in Earth-Science Reviews.The article was published on 2011-05-01. It has received 318 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Isotope geochemistry.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the deep-time δ34S record of marine sulfates and sulfides is reviewed in light of recent advances in understanding the sulfur biogeochemical cycle.
Abstract: The sulfur biogeochemical cycle integrates the metabolic activity of multiple microbial pathways (e.g., sulfate reduction, disproportionation, and sulfide oxidation) along with abiotic reactions and geological processes that cycle sulfur through various reservoirs. The sulfur cycle impacts the global carbon cycle and climate primarily through the remineralization of organic carbon. Over geological timescales, cycling of sulfur is closely tied to the redox state of Earth's exosphere through the burial of oxidized (sulfate) and reduced (sulfide) sulfur species in marine sediments. Biological sulfur cycling is associated with isotopic fractionations that can be used to trace the fluxes through various metabolic pathways. The resulting isotopic data provide insights into sulfur cycling in both modern and ancient environments via isotopic signatures in sedimentary sulfate and sulfide phases. Here, we review the deep-time δ34S record of marine sulfates and sulfides in light of recent advances in understanding h...

292 citations


Cites background from "Multiple sulfur isotopes and the ev..."

  • ...Excellent discussions of additional information that can be gained from analysis of the minor isotopes (33S and 36S) are provided by Farquhar & Wing (2003) and Johnston (2011)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Experiments linking the magnitude of fractionations of the multiple sulfur isotopes to the rate of microbial sulfate reduction demonstrate that such fractionations are controlled by the availability of electron donor (organic matter), rather than by the concentration of electron acceptor (sulfate), an environmental constraint that varies among sedimentary burial environments.
Abstract: Phanerozoic levels of atmospheric oxygen relate to the burial histories of organic carbon and pyrite sulfur. The sulfur cycle remains poorly constrained, however, leading to concomitant uncertainties in O2 budgets. Here we present experiments linking the magnitude of fractionations of the multiple sulfur isotopes to the rate of microbial sulfate reduction. The data demonstrate that such fractionations are controlled by the availability of electron donor (organic matter), rather than by the concentration of electron acceptor (sulfate), an environmental constraint that varies among sedimentary burial environments. By coupling these results with a sediment biogeochemical model of pyrite burial, we find a strong relationship between observed sulfur isotope fractionations over the last 200 Ma and the areal extent of shallow seafloor environments. We interpret this as a global dependency of the rate of microbial sulfate reduction on the availability of organic-rich sea-floor settings. However, fractionation during the early/mid-Paleozoic fails to correlate with shelf area. We suggest that this decoupling reflects a shallower paleoredox boundary, primarily confined to the water column in the early Phanerozoic. The transition between these two states begins during the Carboniferous and concludes approximately around the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, indicating a prolonged response to a Carboniferous rise in O2. Together, these results lay the foundation for decoupling changes in sulfate reduction rates from the global average record of pyrite burial, highlighting how the local nature of sedimentary processes affects global records. This distinction greatly refines our understanding of the S cycle and its relationship to the history of atmospheric oxygen.

279 citations


Cites background from "Multiple sulfur isotopes and the ev..."

  • ...Fortunately, decades of research identify microbial sulfate reduction (MSR) as the key catalyst of the marine S cycle, both setting the S cycle in motion and dominating the massdependent fractionation preserved within the geological record (1, 3, 4)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The new data suggest that the oxygenation occurred rapidly—within 1 to 10 million years—and was followed by a slower rise in the ocean sulfate inventory, whereas the relationships among GOE, “Snowball Earth” glaciation, and biogeochemical cycling will require further stratigraphic correlation supported with precise chronologies and paleolatitude reconstructions.
Abstract: Molecular oxygen (O2) is, and has been, a primary driver of biological evolution and shapes the contemporary landscape of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles Although “whiffs” of oxygen have been documented in the Archean atmosphere, substantial O2 did not accumulate irreversibly until the Early Paleoproterozoic, during what has been termed the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) The timing of the GOE and the rate at which this oxygenation took place have been poorly constrained until now We report the transition (that is, from being mass-independent to becoming mass-dependent) in multiple sulfur isotope signals of diagenetic pyrite in a continuous sedimentary sequence in three coeval drill cores in the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa These data precisely constrain the GOE to 233 billion years ago The new data suggest that the oxygenation occurred rapidly—within 1 to 10 million years—and was followed by a slower rise in the ocean sulfate inventory Our data indicate that a climate perturbation predated the GOE, whereas the relationships among GOE, “Snowball Earth” glaciation, and biogeochemical cycling will require further stratigraphic correlation supported with precise chronologies and paleolatitude reconstructions

261 citations


Cites background from "Multiple sulfur isotopes and the ev..."

  • ...A. J. Kaufman, D. T. Johnston, J. Farquhar, A. Masterson, T. W. Lyons, S. Bates, A. D. Anbar, G. L. Arnold, J. Garvin, R. Buick, Late Archean biospheric oxygenation and atmospheric evolution....

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  • ...A. S. Bradley, W. D. Leavitt, M. Schmidt, A. H. Knoll, P. R. Girguis, D. T. Johnston, Patterns of sulfur isotope fractionation during microbial sulfate reduction....

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  • ...3Ga that are commonly located in the range of−1 to 3‰ (25, 27)....

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  • ...The D(33)S values of pyrite in the S-MIF interval (up to +8‰) are among the highest values in the entire geologic record [for example, Johnston (27)]....

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  • ...I. Halevy, D. T. Johnston, D. P. Schrag, Explaining the structure of the archean massindependent sulfur isotope record....

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Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: The wealth of publications in this period is a testimony to the large environmental, biogeochemical and technological relevance of these organisms and how much the field has progressed in these years, although many important questions and applications remain to be explored.
Abstract: Dissimilatory sulphate reduction is the unifying and defining trait of sulphate-reducing prokaryotes (SRP). In their predominant habitats, sulphate-rich marine sediments, SRP have long been recognized to be major players in the carbon and sulphur cycles. Other, more recently appreciated, ecophysiological roles include activity in the deep biosphere, symbiotic relations, syntrophic associations, human microbiome/health and long-distance electron transfer. SRP include a high diversity of organisms, with large nutritional versatility and broad metabolic capacities, including anaerobic degradation of aromatic compounds and hydrocarbons. Elucidation of novel catabolic capacities as well as progress in the understanding of metabolic and regulatory networks, energy metabolism, evolutionary processes and adaptation to changing environmental conditions has greatly benefited from genomics, functional OMICS approaches and advances in genetic accessibility and biochemical studies. Important biotechnological roles of SRP range from (i) wastewater and off gas treatment, (ii) bioremediation of metals and hydrocarbons and (iii) bioelectrochemistry, to undesired impacts such as (iv) souring in oil reservoirs and other environments, and (v) corrosion of iron and concrete. Here we review recent advances in our understanding of SRPs focusing mainly on works published after 2000. The wealth of publications in this period, covering many diverse areas, is a testimony to the large environmental, biogeochemical and technological relevance of these organisms and how much the field has progressed in these years, although many important questions and applications remain to be explored.

224 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
25 Apr 2013-Nature
TL;DR: Anomalous sulphur isotope signatures indicating mass-independent fractionation (MIF) in olivine-hosted sulphides from 20-million-year-old ocean island basalts from Mangaia, Cook Islands (Polynesia), which have been suggested to sample recycled oceanic crust, suggest that sulphur was subducted into the mantle before 2.45 billion years ago and recycled into theantle source of Mangaia lavas.
Abstract: Basaltic lavas erupted at some oceanic intraplate hotspot volcanoes are thought to sample ancient subducted crustal materials1,2. However, the residence time of these subducted materials in the mantle is uncertain and model-dependent3, and compelling evidence for their return to the surface in regions of mantle upwelling beneath hotspots is lacking. Here we report anomalous sulphur isotope signatures indicating mass-independent fractionation (MIF) in olivine-hosted sulphides from 20-million-year-old ocean island basalts from Mangaia, Cook Islands (Polynesia), which have been suggested to sample recycled oceanic crust3,4. Terrestrial MIF sulphur isotope signatures (in which the amount of fractionation does not scale in proportion with the difference in the masses of the isotopes) were generated exclusively through atmospheric photochemical reactions until about 2.45 billion years ago5-7. Therefore, the discovery of MIF sulphur in these young plume lavas suggests that sulphur--probably derived from hydrothermally altered oceanic crust--was subducted into the mantle before 2.45 billion years ago and recycled into the mantle source of Mangaia lavas. These new data provide evidence for ancient materials, with negative D33S values, in the mantle source for Mangaia lavas. Our data also complement evidence for recycling of the sulphur content of ancient sedimentary materials to the subcontinental lithospheric mantle that has been identified in diamond-hosted sulphide inclusions8,9. This Archaean age for recycled oceanic crust also provides key constraints on the length of time that subducted crustal material can survive in the mantle, and on the timescales of mantle convection from subduction to upwelling beneath hotspots.

199 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1968
TL;DR: In this paper, Skinner et al. discuss the relationship between hydrous alteration and its relationship to hydrous fluid composition in the formation of sulfide-sulfide ores.
Abstract: Partial table of contents: Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits: What We Do and Don't Know (B. Skinner). Magmas and Hydrothermal Fluids (C. Burnham). Thermal Aspects of Ore Formation (L. Cathles). Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotope Relationships in Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits (H. Taylor). Hydrothermal Alteration and Its Relationship to Ore Fluid Composition (M. Reed). Sulfide Ore Mineral Stabilities, Morphologies, and Intergrowth Textures (D. Vaughan & J. Craig). Gangue Mineral Transport and Deposition (J. Rimstidt). Fluid Inclusion Studies of Hydrothermal Ore Deposits (E. Roedder & R. Bodnar). Geothermal Systems and Mercury Deposits (H. Barnes & T. Seward). Submarine Hydrothermal Systems and Deposits (S. Scott). Ore--Forming Brines in Active Continental Rifts (M. McKibben & L. Hardie). Appendix. Index.

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Journal ArticleDOI
Robert A. Berner1
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that organic matter appears to be the major control on pyrite formation in normal (non-euxinic) terrigenous marine sediments where dissolved sulfate and iron minerals are abundant.

2,234 citations


"Multiple sulfur isotopes and the ev..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The capacity for an iron rich setting to faithfully preserve a S or sulfide MIF signal is fitting with our understanding of pyrite formation (Berner, 1970; Berner, 1984) and may be the factor limiting the degree of secondary massdependent reworking....

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Journal ArticleDOI

2,181 citations


"Multiple sulfur isotopes and the ev..." refers background in this paper

  • ...(Bigeleisen and Mayer, 1947; Urey, 1947)] and can be extended to other representations of mass (i....

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  • ...…are rooted primarily in the differences in vibrational energies associated with isotopic substitution [e.g. (Bigeleisen and Mayer, 1947; Urey, 1947)] and can be extended to other representations of mass (i.e. reduced or molecular mass) for other considerations or expansion of…...

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  • ...Our theoretical understanding of equilibrium isotope effects dates back to thework of Urey and Biegeleisen (Bigeleisen andMayer, 1947; Urey, 1947)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a model involving symmetrical fluxes is introduced to take advantage of the oxygen data, and the measured δ34S and δ18O correspond to variations in these isotopes in sulfate of the world ocean surface.

1,759 citations


"Multiple sulfur isotopes and the ev..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…also realized this potential, as there exists a rich record of environmental change within the sedimentary records (Canfield and Teske, 1996; Claypool et al., 1980; Goodwin et al., 1976; Habicht et al., 2002; Kah et al., 2004; Monster et al., 1979; Shen et al., 2001; Strauss, 1993; Thode…...

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01 Jan 1979

1,757 citations