Biomarkers, brines, and oil in the Mesoproterozoic, Roper Superbasin, Australia

Dutkiewicz, Adriana; Volk, Herbert; Ridley, John; George, Simon C.

doi:10.1130/g19754.1

Cited by 64 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…There are abundant acritarchs with ultrastructure and ornamentation indicative of eukaryotic affinities (Javaux et al, 2004). In support of this conclusion, kerogen and "live" oil from shales and fluid inclusions yield diverse sterane hydrocarbon biomarkers derived from eukaryotes (Summons et al, 1988;Dutkiewicz et al, 2003;Dutkiewicz et al, 2004;Volk et al, 2005;Siljeström et al, 2013; but see Flannery & George, 2014 for a contradictory finding), though most biomarkers are of prokaryotic origin. Sulfur isotope studies suggest that some of these prokaryotes metabolized by sulfate reduction (Donnelly and Crick, 1988) and sulfur disproportionation (Johnston et al, 2008).…”

Section: Roper Groupmentioning

confidence: 95%

Spatial and temporal trends in Precambrian nitrogen cycling: A Mesoproterozoic offshore nitrate minimum

Koehler

Stüeken

Kipp

et al. 2017

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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Section: Roper Groupmentioning

confidence: 95%

Spatial and temporal trends in Precambrian nitrogen cycling: A Mesoproterozoic offshore nitrate minimum

Koehler

Stüeken

Kipp

et al. 2017

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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“…Steranes have been reported from a number of Proterozoic successions (e.g., Summons and Walter 1990;Dutkiewicz et al 2003) and are generally found in low abundance, reflecting at least in part the thermal maturity of their host rocks. These molecular fossils establish the presence of eukaryotes in Proterozoic oceans, but the scarcity of detailed records limits the inferences that can be drawn concerning ecological role or taxonomic affinities (because group-distinctive markers are generally below detection limits).…”

Section: Proterozoic Molecular Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, the Roper and McArthur Basins of northern Australia contain rocks of low-to-moderate thermal maturity, more consistent with the probability of finding genuinely syngenetic biomarkers. Given that studies of the Roper and McArthur Basin sediments and oils consistently show the presence of steroids (Summons et al 1988a, b;Dutkiewicz et al 2003) along with other evidence for the in situ ) character of the bitumens, there seems little doubt that steroid biosynthesis operated as long ago as 1640 Ma. Preservation is a major limitation for both body and molecular fossil records at this point.…”

Section: Proterozoic Molecular Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions in Proterozoic rocks from Australia (Dutkiewicz et al, 2003a(Dutkiewicz et al, ,b, 2004Volk et al, 2003;George et al, 2008), Gabon (Dutkiewicz et al, 2007) and Canada dating as far back as >2.2 Ga have yielded suites of biomarker compounds including steroids and triterpenoids. Fluid inclusions present unique bitumen trapping conditions, including high fluid pressures and the absence of clay minerals, and the opportunity to assess the inclusion entrapment in the context of the alteration history of the host rock.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Molecular biogeochemistry of modern and ancient marine microbes

Waldbauer¹

2010

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Biological activity has shaped the surface of the earth in numerous ways, but life's most pervasive and persistent global impact has been the secular oxidation of the surface environment. Through primary production -the biochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to synthesize biomass -large amounts of oxidants such as molecular oxygen, sulfate and ferric iron have accumulated in the ocean, atmosphere and crust, fundamentally altering the chemical environment of the earth's surface. This thesis addresses aspects of the role of marine microorganisms in driving this process. In the first section of the thesis, biomarkers (hydrocarbon molecular fossils) are used to investigate the early history of microbial diversity and biogeochemistry. Molecular fossils from the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa, document the presence in the oceans of a diverse microbiota, including eukaryotes, as well as oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic biochemistry, by ca. 2.7Ga. Experimental study of the oxygen requirements of steroid biosynthesis suggests that sterane biomarkers in late Archean rocks are consistent with the persistence of microaerobic surface ocean environments long before the initial oxygenation of the atmosphere. In the second part, using Prochlorococcus (a marine cyanobacterium that is the most abundant primary producer on earth today) as a model system, we explored how microbes use the limited nutrient resources available in the marine environment to make the protein catalysts that enable primary production. Quantification of the Prochlorococcus proteome over the diel cell-division cycle reveals that protein abundances are distinct from transcript-level dynamics, and that small temporal shifts in enzyme levels can redirect metabolic fluxes. This thesis illustrates how molecular techniques can contribute to a systems-level understanding of biogeochemical processes, which will aid in reconstructing the past of, and predicting future change in, earth surface environments. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI have incurred many debts of gratitude and appreciation over the course of this work. None are greater than those to my advisors, Penny Chisholm and Roger Summons, who allowed and enabled me to pursue such a wide range of scientific interests and offered their help and advice every step of the way. I have been very lucky to have had the chance to learn so much during my Ph.D., and none of that would have been possible without their guidance and support.I have also had the great fortune to know and work with all the members of the Chisholm and Summons labs, who have made this an enjoyable and rewarding place to be. I am especially grateful to Laura Sherman for her skill and dedication in analyzing biomarkers in the late Archean cores -it was truly getting blood from a stone. I was lucky to collaborate with Sébastien Rodrigue, whose expertise and collegiality made the diel experiment even more fruitful than I could have hoped. IntroductionThe coevolution of life and earth surface environments is central to the history and functionin...

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“…The relative age of entrapment of FIs can be determined using textural relationships which, when coupled with a knowledge of the metamorphic and deformational history of the host rock, may constrain the potential sources. These tiny vessels are closed systems after entrapment and are shielded not only from contamination, but also from much of the alteration that usually affects other hydrocarbons over time [22][23][24] . Oil-bearing FIs have been shown to have been trapped during the Proterozoic and the Archaean [22,25] , and as such prove the contention that there was sufficient kerogen to form oil during thermal maturation [26,27] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Oil-bearing fluid inclusions from the Palaeoproterozoic: A review of biogeochemical results from time-capsules >2.0 Ga old

George

Dutkiewicz

Volk

et al. 2009

Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci.

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The observation of oil inclusions trapped prior to 2.0 Ga in Palaeoproterozoic rocks and the ability to obtain detailed molecular geochemical information from them provide a robust way for understanding the early biogeochemical evolution of the Earth. Oil-bearing fluid inclusions (FI) in ca. 2.45 Ga fluvial metaconglomerate of the Matinenda Formation at Elliot Lake, Canada were trapped in quartz and feldspar during diagenesis and early metamorphism of the host rock, probably before ca. 2.2 Ga. The 2.1 Ga FA Formation sandstone of the Franceville Basin in Gabon that hosts the Oklo natural fission reactors has also been discovered to contain abundant Palaeoproterozoic oil-bearing FIs. This oil occurs within H 2 O and CO 2 -dominated inclusions trapped in syntaxial quartz overgrowths and intragranular and transgranular microfractures in detrital quartz, and was most likely trapped 2.1-1.98 Ga. Molecular geochemical analyses of both FI oils reveal a wide range of compounds, including n-alkanes, isoprenoids, monomethylalkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and trace amounts of complex multi-ring biomarkers including terpanes, hopanes, methylhopanes, steranes and diasteranes. To ensure a reliable interpretation of oil inclusions, a comprehensive series of outside-rinse blanks and procedural system blanks was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; quantitative amounts of the hydrocarbons in these blanks were compared to the FI extracts, so as to provide confidence limits on the experimental integrity of each compound class. Maturity ratios based on reliably detected compound classes show that the FI oils were generated in the oil window, with no evidence of extensive thermal cracking. The presence of biomarkers for cyanobacteria and eukaryotes derived from and trapped in rocks deposited prior to 2.0 Ga is consistent with early evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis and suggests that some aquatic settings had become sufficiently oxygenated for sterol biosynthesis by this time. The extraction of biomarker molecules from Palaeoproterozoic oil-bearing FIs thus establishes a new method, using low detection limits and system blank levels, to trace evolution through Earth's early history that avoids the potential contamination problems affecting shale-hosted hydrocarbons. Palaeoproterozoic, fluid inclusion, oil, biomarker, blank Early Precambrian sequences containing suitable material for biomolecular studies are relatively rare due to poor preservation of sedimentary rocks over such long periods of time. Metamorphism greatly limits the number of old rocks suitable for study, so the record of biomarker evolution very early in time is distinctly incomplete [1][2][3] and to date only trace amounts of biomarkers

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Biomarkers, brines, and oil in the Mesoproterozoic, Roper Superbasin, Australia

Cited by 64 publications

References 21 publications

Spatial and temporal trends in Precambrian nitrogen cycling: A Mesoproterozoic offshore nitrate minimum

Spatial and temporal trends in Precambrian nitrogen cycling: A Mesoproterozoic offshore nitrate minimum

Molecular biogeochemistry of modern and ancient marine microbes

Oil-bearing fluid inclusions from the Palaeoproterozoic: A review of biogeochemical results from time-capsules >2.0 Ga old

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