A lithium-isotope perspective on the evolution of carbon and silicon cycles

Boriana Kalderon-Asael (), Joachim A. R. Katchinoff, Noah J. Planavsky (), Ashleigh v. S. Hood, Mathieu Dellinger, Eric J. Bellefroid, David S. Jones, Axel Hofmann, Frantz Ossa Ossa, Francis A. Macdonald, Chunjiang Wang, Terry T. Isson, Jack G. Murphy, John A. Higgins, A. Joshua West, Malcolm W. Wallace, Dan Asael and Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann ()
Additional contact information
Boriana Kalderon-Asael: Yale University
Joachim A. R. Katchinoff: Yale University
Noah J. Planavsky: Yale University
Ashleigh v. S. Hood: School of Earth Sciences, Parkville
Mathieu Dellinger: Durham University
Eric J. Bellefroid: Yale University
David S. Jones: Amherst College Geology Department
Axel Hofmann: University of Johannesburg
Frantz Ossa Ossa: University of Johannesburg
Francis A. Macdonald: University of California Santa Barbara
Chunjiang Wang: College of Geosciences
Terry T. Isson: Yale University
Jack G. Murphy: Princeton University
John A. Higgins: Princeton University
A. Joshua West: University of Southern California
Malcolm W. Wallace: School of Earth Sciences, Parkville
Dan Asael: Yale University
Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann: University College London and Birkbeck, University of London

Nature, 2021, vol. 595, issue 7867, 394-398

Abstract: Abstract The evolution of the global carbon and silicon cycles is thought to have contributed to the long-term stability of Earth’s climate1–3. Many questions remain, however, regarding the feedback mechanisms at play, and there are limited quantitative constraints on the sources and sinks of these elements in Earth’s surface environments4–12. Here we argue that the lithium-isotope record can be used to track the processes controlling the long-term carbon and silicon cycles. By analysing more than 600 shallow-water marine carbonate samples from more than 100 stratigraphic units, we construct a new carbonate-based lithium-isotope record spanning the past 3 billion years. The data suggest an increase in the carbonate lithium-isotope values over time, which we propose was driven by long-term changes in the lithium-isotopic conditions of sea water, rather than by changes in the sedimentary alterations of older samples. Using a mass-balance modelling approach, we propose that the observed trend in lithium-isotope values reflects a transition from Precambrian carbon and silicon cycles to those characteristic of the modern. We speculate that this transition was linked to a gradual shift to a biologically controlled marine silicon cycle and the evolutionary radiation of land plants13,14.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03612-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:595:y:2021:i:7867:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03612-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03612-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().