Linking the rise of atmospheric oxygen to growth in the continental phosphorus inventory

Cox, Grant; Lyons, Timothy W.; Mitchell, Ross N.; Hasterok, Derrick; Gard, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.02.016

Cited by 69 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Evolution of the Sr seawater curve from mantle values in the late Archean to evolved values similar to those measured today, and the shift in the triple-oxygen isotope composition of shales to modern values around 2.5 Ga, is consistent with emergence of continental crust due to its increased thickness and felsic composition (Cawood et al, 2013;Dhuime et al, 2017) and an exposed area comparable to that of the present day (Bindeman et al, 2018). Similarly, the evolving thickness of constant area crust for the last 3 Ga, has implications for biological productivity through input into the oceans from continental exposure and weathering of bio-essential elements such as P (Cox et al, 2018;Reinhard et al, 2017).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptsupporting

confidence: 52%

Continental crustal volume, thickness and area, and their geodynamic implications

Cawood

Hawkesworth

2019

Gondwana Research

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Models of the volume of continental crust through Earth history vary significantly due to a range of assumptions and data sets; estimates for 3 Ga range from < 10 % to > 120 % of present day volume. We argue that continental area and thickness varied independently and increased at different rates and over different periods, in response to different tectonic processes, through Earth history. Crustal area increased steadily on a pre-plate tectonic Earth, prior to ca. 3 Ga. By 3 Ga the area of continental crust appears to have reached a dynamic equilibrium of around 40 % of the Earth's surface, and this was maintained in the plate tectonic world throughout the last 3 billion years. New continental crust was relatively thin and mafic from ca. 4-3 Ga but started to increase substantially with the inferred onset of plate tectonics at ca. 3 Ga, which also led to the sustained development of Earth's bimodal hypsometry. Integration of thickness and area data suggests continental volume increased from 4.5 Ga to 1.8 Ga, and that it remained relatively constant through Earth's middle age (1.8-0.8 Ga). Since the Neoproterozoic, the estimated crustal thickness, and by implication the volume of the continental crust, appears to have decreased by as much as 15 %. This

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptsupporting

confidence: 52%

Continental crustal volume, thickness and area, and their geodynamic implications

Cawood

Hawkesworth

2019

Gondwana Research

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“…Similarly, an increased nutrient ux (e.g. phosphorous) to the oceans associated with the Paleoproterozoic subaerial emergence of continents may have fuelled a boost in oxygenic photosynthesis (either in terms of radiation or bioproductivity) 50 . A shift in ocean nutrient availability from phosphorous to iron limiting may have resulted in ecological conditions favourable for oxygenic photoautotrophs over anoxygenic photoautotrophs 51 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupling of the atmosphere and sediment melts across the Archean-Proterozoic transition

Liebmann

Spencer

Kirkland

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The Archean-Proterozoic transition marks a time of fundamental geologic, biologic, and atmospheric changes to the Earth system, including oxygenation of the atmosphere (termed the Great Oxygenation Event; GOE), and the emergence of continents above sea-level. The impacts of the GOE on Earth’s surface environment are imprinted on the geologic record, including the attenuation of mass-independent fractionation of sulfur isotopes (S-MIF). Temporally overlapping geologic and geochemical observations (e.g. a change in oxygen isotope ratio of sediment melts) imply the widespread subaerial emergence of continents was coeval with atmospheric oxygenation. Here we present triple sulfur isotope ratios in pyrite and oxygen isotope ratios in garnet and zircon in a global suite of Archean and Proterozoic sediment-derived granitoids. These crustal melts record an increase in average 18O/16O isotope ratio and a disappearance of S-MIF in the Paleoproterozoic. The coupled behaviour of sulfur and oxygen isotope signatures imply a potential causal link between the emergence of continents and atmospheric oxygenation at ~2.3 Ga.

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“…Numerous studies have since linked plate tectonics to the processes and rates of continental stabilization or assembly through time [7][8][9][10]. Other studies relate the operation of plate tectonics to the development of a habitable planet, through formation of buoyant, emergent continents, flux of essential nutrients into seawater and regulation of the composition of Earth's atmosphere and oceans [11][12][13].…”

Section: Many Studies Link the Presence Of Continents Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early earth geodynamics: cross examining the geological testimony

Kemp

2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Linking the rise of atmospheric oxygen to growth in the continental phosphorus inventory

Cited by 69 publications

References 62 publications

Continental crustal volume, thickness and area, and their geodynamic implications

Continental crustal volume, thickness and area, and their geodynamic implications

Coupling of the atmosphere and sediment melts across the Archean-Proterozoic transition

Early earth geodynamics: cross examining the geological testimony

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