Onset of coupled atmosphere–ocean oxygenation 2.3 billion years ago

Chadlin M. Ostrander (), Andy W. Heard, Yunchao Shu, Andrey Bekker, Simon W. Poulton, Kasper P. Olesen and Sune G. Nielsen
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Chadlin M. Ostrander: University of Utah
Andy W. Heard: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Yunchao Shu: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Andrey Bekker: University of California
Simon W. Poulton: University of Leeds
Kasper P. Olesen: University of Southern Denmark
Sune G. Nielsen: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Nature, 2024, vol. 631, issue 8020, 335-339

Abstract: Abstract The initial rise of molecular oxygen (O2) shortly after the Archaean–Proterozoic transition 2.5 billion years ago was more complex than the single step-change once envisioned. Sulfur mass-independent fractionation records suggest that the rise of atmospheric O2 was oscillatory, with multiple returns to an anoxic state until perhaps 2.2 billion years ago1–3. Yet few constraints exist for contemporaneous marine oxygenation dynamics, precluding a holistic understanding of planetary oxygenation. Here we report thallium (Tl) isotope ratio and redox-sensitive element data for marine shales from the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Synchronous with sulfur isotope evidence of atmospheric oxygenation in the same shales3, we found lower authigenic 205Tl/203Tl ratios indicative of widespread manganese oxide burial on an oxygenated seafloor and higher redox-sensitive element abundances consistent with expanded oxygenated waters. Both signatures disappear when the sulfur isotope data indicate a brief return to an anoxic atmospheric state. Our data connect recently identified atmospheric O2 dynamics on early Earth with the marine realm, marking an important turning point in Earth’s redox history away from heterogeneous and highly localized ‘oasis’-style oxygenation.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07551-5

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