Onset of the aerobic nitrogen cycle during the Great Oxidation Event
Abstract
The rise of oxygen on the early Earth (about 2.4 billion years ago)1 caused a reorganization of marine nutrient cycles2, 3, including that of nitrogen, which is important for controlling global primary productivity. However, current geochemical records4 lack the temporal resolution to address the nature and timing of the biogeochemical response to oxygenation directly. Here we couple records of ocean redox chemistry with nitrogen isotope (15N/14N) values from approximately 2.31-billion-year-old shales5 of the Rooihoogte and Timeball Hill formations in South Africa, deposited during the early stages of the first rise in atmospheric oxygen on the Earth (the Great Oxidation Event)6. Our data fill a gap of about 400 million years in the temporal 15N/14N record4 and provide evidence for the emergence of a pervasive aerobic marine nitrogen cycle. The interpretation of our nitrogen isotope data in the context of iron speciation and carbon isotope data suggests biogeochemical cycling across a dynamic redox boundary, with primary productivity fuelled by chemoautotrophic production and a nitrogen cycle dominated by nitrogen loss processes using newly available marine oxidants. This chemostratigraphic trend constrains the onset of widespread nitrate availability associated with ocean oxygenation. The rise of marine nitrate could have allowed for the rapid diversification and proliferation of nitrate-using cyanobacteria and, potentially, eukaryotic phytoplankton.
Citation
Zerkle , A L , Poulton , S W , Newton , R J , Mettam , C , Claire , M W , Bekker , A & Junium , C K 2017 , ' Onset of the aerobic nitrogen cycle during the Great Oxidation Event ' , Nature , vol. 542 , no. 7642 , pp. 465-467 . https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20826
Publication
Nature
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0028-0836Type
Journal item
Rights
© 2017 the Authors. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20826
Description
This study was supported financially by Natural Environment Research Council Fellowship NE/H016805 to AZ.Collections
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