Triple oxygen isotope evidence for elevated CO2 levels after a Neoproterozoic glaciation

Huiming Bao (), J. R. Lyons and Chuanming Zhou
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Huiming Bao: E235 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
J. R. Lyons: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Chuanming Zhou: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China

Nature, 2008, vol. 453, issue 7194, 504-506

Abstract: Ancient atmospheres: Snowball Earth exit by proxy Information about the past composition of the Earth's atmosphere on geological timescales is hard to come by. So the debut of a new stable isotope proxy for ancient atmospheric condition is a notable event. The proxy, the triple oxygen isotope composition of sulphate from ancient evaporites and barites, exhibits variable negative oxygen-17 anomalies over the past 750 million years. The anomalies track atmospheric oxygen and in turn reflect the partial pressure of carbon disoide via a stratospheric ozone/carbon dioxide/oxygen photochemical reaction network. In line with modelling results, the proxy data point to a high-carbon dioxide atmosphere in the Early Cambrian compared to earlier eras. Significantly, the oxygen-17 anomalies of barites from Marinoan cap carbonates (∼ 635 million years ago) display a distinct negative spike, suggesting that carbon dioxide was still high when barite was precipitating in the cap carbonate sequences. This supports the Neoproterozoic 'snowball' Earth hypothesis and/or massive methane release after the Marinoan glaciation.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06959

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