Stability of the marine nitrogen cycle over the past 165 million years

Linda V. Godfrey (), Anne Willem Omta, Eli Tziperman, Xiang Li, Yongyun Hu and Paul G. Falkowski
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Linda V. Godfrey: Rutgers University
Anne Willem Omta: Case Western Reserve University
Eli Tziperman: Harvard University
Xiang Li: Peking University
Yongyun Hu: Peking University
Paul G. Falkowski: Rutgers University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two macro-nutrients that limit biological productivity in the ocean. While the supply of P depends on geological processes, N is biologically supplied from an inexhaustible atmospheric source, but can be limited by micro-nutrients, especially iron. Here we present a record of N and C isotopes over the past 165 Ma in marine sediments to address feedbacks between the N-cycle and productivity. Over most of the last 165 Myr, the fixed N averaged +3.2‰, (−2 and +9‰), but higher in distal areas of the ocean due to limited vertical mixing. Using an isotope box model and a coupled climate model we show that this is caused by winds that induce upwelling changing due to continental meander. Upwelling along low latitude east-west orientated Tethyan coastlines results in low δ15N, while upwelling along narrow N-S coastlines as it does today, results in high δ15N due to denitrification.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63604-x

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