The oxygen isotope evolution of seawater: A critical review of a long-standing controversy and an improved geological water cycle model for the past 3.4 billion years

Jaffrés, Jasmine B.D.; Shields, Graham A.; Wallmann, Klaus

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2007.04.002

Cited by 320 publications

(266 citation statements)

References 187 publications

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“…1) is significantly higher than estimates based on carbonate and chert analyses that assume a temperate Archaean climate, which are as low as −13.3‰ (2,3). Our values are, however, consistent with observations made from other Archaean volcanic rocks (13), including those from nearby pillow basalts in the ISB (14), from biogenic phosphates preserved in the 3.5 to 3.2 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt (4), and from the ophiolite record of the past approximately 3.5 Ga (10).…”

Section: Models For a Global Hydrogen Budgetmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…This trend has been attributed either to lower δ 18 O SEA WATER in the Archaean (1,3), or to ocean temperatures up to approximately 70°C (5-8). Both interpretations have been questioned based on the susceptibility of chemical sediments to diagenetic alteration over geologic time (2,4), and for the latter, a lack of geologic evidence for the extreme greenhouse gas concentrations required to sustain such high temperatures under a less luminous young Sun (9).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of oceanic sedimentary rocks provide a commonly used proxy record, but interpretations remain inconclusive (1)(2)(3)(4). Average δ 18 O values of Archaean marine sediments (cherts and carbonates) are tens of per mil lower than present-day values, and systematically increase over geologic time (2,3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Isotope composition and volume of Earth’s early oceans

Pope

Bird

Rosing

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

130

145

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Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of Earth's seawater are controlled by volatile fluxes among mantle, lithospheric (oceanic and continental crust), and atmospheric reservoirs. Throughout geologic time the oxygen mass budget was likely conserved within these Earth system reservoirs, but hydrogen's was not, as it can escape to space. Isotopic properties of serpentine from the approximately 3.8 Ga Isua Supracrustal Belt in West Greenland are used to characterize hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions of ancient seawater. Archaean oceans were depleted in deuterium [expressed as δD relative to Vienna standard mean ocean water (VSMOW)] by at most 25 AE 5‰, but oxygen isotope ratios were comparable to modern oceans. Mass balance of the global hydrogen budget constrains the contribution of continental growth and planetary hydrogen loss to the secular evolution of hydrogen isotope ratios in Earth's oceans. Our calculations predict that the oceans of early Earth were up to 26% more voluminous, and atmospheric CH 4 and CO 2 concentrations determined from limits on hydrogen escape to space are consistent with clement conditions on Archaean Earth. Both interpretations have been questioned based on the susceptibility of chemical sediments to diagenetic alteration over geologic time (2, 4), and for the latter, a lack of geologic evidence for the extreme greenhouse gas concentrations required to sustain such high temperatures under a less luminous young Sun (9).Minerals formed by metasomatic reactions between seawater and oceanic lithosphere provide an alternative proxy for early ocean chemistry (10-14). Here we report hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions of 114 silicate mineral separates from the ca. 3.8 Ga Isua Supracrustal Belt (ISB) of West Greenland, including metamorphosed basalts, gabbros, and ultramafic rocks that represent fragments of Eoarchaean oceanic crust (see Fig. S1, Table S2). Minerals formed during heterogeneous late-stage CO 2 -or meteoric-dominated metamorphic overprinting are distinguished by characteristic trends in their coupled δD and δ 18 O values (Fig. S2). In contrast, serpentine minerals formed by reaction of seawater with ultramafic rocks (peridotites) preserved in a low-strain enclave of the ISB (15) define a different isotopic trend. Here we use these serpentines to constrain D∕H and 18 O∕ 16 O ratios of the Eoarchaean ocean. Serpentine Isotope GeochemistrySerpentine-group minerals are hydrous magnesian silicates commonly formed by hydrothermal infiltration of seawater into ultramafic oceanic crust, hydration of the mantle wedge by slabderived fluids, or fluid-rock interaction in continentally emplaced ultramafic lithologies (16)(17)(18). Serpentinized oceanic peridotites are dominantly composed of low-temperature (<300°C) polymorphs lizardite and chrysotile, and to a lesser extent antigorite, which forms at temperatures >250°C (17). In modern oceanic serpentinites, antigorites have δD between −46 and −30‰ (Figs. 1 and 2A, filled squares), values that indicate equilibrium with modern-...

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Section: Models For a Global Hydrogen Budgetmentioning

confidence: 72%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Isotope composition and volume of Earth’s early oceans

Pope

Bird

Rosing

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

130

145

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“…Thus, one must know the oxygen isotopic composition of both phases to determine a mineral's formation temperature. Although ancient carbonate minerals are preserved in the rock record over most of Earth's history (Veizer and Mackenzie, 2003) (Muehlenbachs and Clayton, 1976;Gregory and Taylor, 1981;Gregory, 1991;Kasting et al, 2006;Jaffrés et al, 2007), limiting the utility of carbonate  18 O paleothermometry for many Earth-history questions. For comparison, a 1‰ change in  18 O carb values at Earth-surface temperatures (e.g., 0-30°C) but fixed  18 O fluid is equivalent to an approximately 4-5°C change in mineral formation temperature (e.g., Kim and O'Neil, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the effects of diagenesis on carbonate clumped-isotope values in deep- and shallow-water settings

Stolper

Eiler

Higgins

2018

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. O values provides new constraints on both the diagenetic history of deep-sea settings as well as past equatorial sea-surface temperatures. Specifically, the combination of the diagenetic model and data support previous work that indicates equatorial sea-surface temperatures were warmer in the Paleogene as compared to today. We then explore whether the model is applicable to shallow-water settings commonly preserved in the rock record. Using a previously published dataset from the Bahamas, we demonstrate that the model captures the main trends of the data as a function of burial depth and thus appears applicable to a range of depositional settings.

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“…18 O seawater , with average surface T remaining around 15-30 °C (e.g., Jaffrés et al, 2007). To provide further constraints on this key issue, we have investigated cherthosted biogenic carbonaceous remnants, whose O isotope composition is directly related to that of the water in which their precursor microorganisms thrived.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warm Archaean oceans reconstructed from oxygen isotope composition of early-life remnants

Tartèse¹,

Chaussidon²,

Gurenko³

et al. 2016

Geochem. Persp. Let.

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doi: 10.7185/geochemlet.1706 Deciphering the surface conditions on the Earth during Archean times (> 2.5 billion years ago -Ga) is crucial to constrain the conditions that promoted the development of life. The progressive shift through time of the oxygen isotopic compositions of Precambrian siliceous sediments -the so-called cherts -has been interpreted as indicating a secular decrease of seawater temperature by 50-80 °C from the early Archean to the present-day. However, this interpretation has been questioned, notably because it assumes that the seawater oxygen isotopic composition has remained globally constant since 3.5 Ga, though this has never been tested by direct isotopic measurements on Archean samples. Here we report measurements of the oxygen isotopic composition of carbonaceous matter indigenous to Precambrian cherts up to ca. 3.5 Ga. These new results demonstrate that the oxygen isotope composition of seawater during most of the Precambrian remained around 0 ± 5 ‰, which is consistent with the composition of present day seawater. Combined with the chert oxygen isotope composition record, this indicates that ca. 3.5 Ga ago ocean bottom-water temperatures were ~50-60 °C higher than today.

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The oxygen isotope evolution of seawater: A critical review of a long-standing controversy and an improved geological water cycle model for the past 3.4 billion years

Cited by 320 publications

References 187 publications

Isotope composition and volume of Earth’s early oceans

Isotope composition and volume of Earth’s early oceans

Modeling the effects of diagenesis on carbonate clumped-isotope values in deep- and shallow-water settings

Warm Archaean oceans reconstructed from oxygen isotope composition of early-life remnants

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