The geologic history of marine dissolved organic carbon from iron oxides

Nir Galili (), Stefano M. Bernasconi, Alon Nissan, Uria Alcolombri, Giorgia Aquila, Marcella Bella, Thomas M. Blattmann, Negar Haghipour, Francesco Italiano, Madalina Jaggi, Ifat Kaplan-Ashiri, Kang Soo Lee, Maxwell A. Lechte, Cara Magnabosco, Susannah M. Porter, Maxim Rudmin, Robert G. M. Spencer, Roman Stocker, Zhe Wang, Stephan Wohlwend and Jordon D. Hemingway
Additional contact information
Nir Galili: ETH Zurich
Stefano M. Bernasconi: ETH Zurich
Alon Nissan: ETH Zurich
Uria Alcolombri: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Giorgia Aquila: ETH Zurich
Marcella Bella: National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics
Thomas M. Blattmann: ETH Zurich
Negar Haghipour: ETH Zurich
Francesco Italiano: National Institute of Geophysical and Volcanology
Madalina Jaggi: ETH Zurich
Ifat Kaplan-Ashiri: Weizmann Institute of Science
Kang Soo Lee: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology
Maxwell A. Lechte: McGill University
Cara Magnabosco: ETH Zurich
Susannah M. Porter: University of California, Santa Barbara
Maxim Rudmin: Tomsk Polytechnic University
Robert G. M. Spencer: Florida State University
Roman Stocker: ETH Zurich
Zhe Wang: ETH Zurich
Stephan Wohlwend: ETH Zurich
Jordon D. Hemingway: ETH Zurich

Nature, 2025, vol. 644, issue 8078, 945-951

Abstract: Abstract Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is the largest reduced carbon reservoir in modern oceans1,2. Its dynamics regulate marine communities and atmospheric CO2 levels3,4, whereas 13C compositions track ecosystem structure and autotrophic metabolism5. However, the geologic history of marine DOC remains largely unconstrained6,7, limiting our ability to mechanistically reconstruct coupled ecological and biogeochemical evolution. Here we develop and validate a direct proxy for past DOC signatures using co-precipitated organic carbon in iron ooids. We apply this to 26 marine iron ooid-containing formations deposited over the past 1,650 million years to generate a data-based reconstruction of marine DOC signals since the Palaeoproterozoic. Our predicted DOC concentrations were near modern levels in the Palaeoproterozoic, then decreased by 90−99% in the Neoproterozoic before sharply rising in the Cambrian. We interpret these dynamics to reflect three distinct states. The occurrence of mostly small, single-celled organisms combined with severely hypoxic deep oceans, followed by larger, more complex organisms and little change in ocean oxygenation and finally continued organism growth and a transition to fully oxygenated oceans8,9. Furthermore, modern DOC is 13C-enriched relative to the Proterozoic, possibly because of changing autotrophic carbon-isotope fractionation driven by biological innovation. Our findings reflect connections between the carbon cycle, ocean oxygenation and the evolution of complex life.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09383-3

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