Journal ArticleDOI
Rethinking the Ancient Sulfur Cycle
TLDR
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...read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
The Biogeochemical Sulfur Cycle of Marine Sediments.
TL;DR: The progress and current status in the understanding of the sulfur cycle in the seabed with respect to its microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, and isotope geochemistry are reviewed.
Book
Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a survey of the current understanding of the atmospheric evolution and climate on Earth, on other rocky planets within our Solar System, and on planets far beyond.
Journal ArticleDOI
Pyrite sulfur isotopes reveal glacial-interglacial environmental changes.
Virgil Pasquier,Pierre Sansjofre,Marina Rabineau,Sidonie Révillon,Jennifer Houghton,David A. Fike +5 more
TL;DR: This work investigates alternative controls on the sedimentary sulfur isotopic composition of marine pyrite by examining a 300-m drill core of Mediterranean sediments deposited over the past 500,000 y and spanning the last five glacial−interglacial periods, and suggests meaningful paleoenvironmental information can be derived from pyrites δ34S records.
Journal ArticleDOI
Two-billion-year-old evaporites capture Earth's great oxidation.
Clara L. Blättler,Mark Claire,Anthony R. Prave,Kalle Kirsimäe,John A. Higgins,P. Medvedev,A.E. Romashkin,Dmitry V. Rychanchik,Aubrey L. Zerkle,Kärt Paiste,Timmu Kreitsmann,Ian L. Millar,Justin A. Hayles,Huiming Bao,Alexandra V. Turchyn,Matthew R. Warke,Aivo Lepland +16 more
TL;DR: These results show that substantial amounts of surface oxidant accumulated during this critical transition in Earth’s oxygenation, and provide a constraint on the magnitude and timing of early Earth's response to the Great Oxidation Event 2.3 billion years ago.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project : High-Resolution Paleoclimate Records from the East African Rift System and Their Implications for Understanding the Environmental Context of Hominin Evolution
Christopher J. Campisano,Andrew S. Cohen,J Ramón Arrowsmith,Asfawossen Asrat,Anna K. Behrensmeyer,Erik T. Brown,Alan L. Deino,Daniel M. Deocampo,Craig S. Feibel,John D. Kingston,Henry F. Lamb,Tim K. Lowenstein,Anders Noren,Daniel Olago,R. Bernhart Owen,Jon D. Pelletier,Richard Potts,Kaye E. Reed,Robin W. Renaut,James M. Russell,Joellen L. Russell,Frank Schäbitz,Jeffrey R. Stone,Martin H. Trauth,Jonathan G. Wynn +24 more
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
A marine microbial consortium apparently mediating anaerobic oxidation of methane
Antje Boetius,Katrin Ravenschlag,Carsten J. Schubert,Dirk Rickert,Friedrich Widdel,Armin Gieseke,Rudolf Amann,Bo Barker Jørgensen,Ursula Witte,Olaf Pfannkuche +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide microscopic evidence for a structured consortium of archaea and sulphate-reducing bacteria, which are identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization using specific 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sedimentary pyrite formation: An update
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
The age curves of sulfur and oxygen isotopes in marine sulfate and their mutual interpretation
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mineralization of organic matter in the sea bed—the role of sulphate reduction
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative survey of aerobic and anaerobic mineralization in the sea bed based on direct rate measurements of the two processes is presented, and the results demonstrate a surprisingly high contribution from the sulphate-reducers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane: Progress with an Unknown Process
Katrin Knittel,Antje Boetius +1 more
TL;DR: This review summarizes what is known and unknown about AOM on earth and its key catalysts, the anaerobic methanotrophic archaea clades and their bacterial partners.