Biomarker evidence for green and purple sulphur bacteria in a stratified Palaeoproterozoic sea

Jochen J. Brocks (), Gordon D. Love, Roger E. Summons, Andrew H. Knoll, Graham A. Logan and Stephen A. Bowden
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Jochen J. Brocks: The Australian National University
Gordon D. Love: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Roger E. Summons: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew H. Knoll: Harvard University
Graham A. Logan: Geoscience Australia
Stephen A. Bowden: University of Aberdeen

Nature, 2005, vol. 437, issue 7060, 866-870

Abstract: Purple sulphur eaters Rising oxygen levels in the Earth's early atmosphere marked the end of a 2.5-billion-year period dominated by oceans with low levels of oxygen. But geochemical evidence suggests that for the following billion years the oceans remained largely devoid of oxygen. The discovery of molecular fossils (hydrocarbon biomarkers) in 1.6-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks from a marine basin in northern Australia now offers insights into the marine ecosystem at the time. The biomarkers record an anoxic and sulphidic world hostile to to many forms of life but supporting blooms of sulphide-breathing green and purple bacteria.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04068

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