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Early Organic Evolution pp 31–40Cite as

Experimental Procedures to Simulate Weathering Under Atmospheres Which May Have Characterized the Early Archean

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Abstract

Weathering experiments with mafic and ultramafíc rock material were carried out under different atmospheric conditions, such as a CO2, a N2 —CO2 — H2 —H2S, and a N2 —O2 —CO2 atmosphere. Thus, a primordial, possible Early Archean, and a present-day atmosphere have been simulated. The experiments were carried out in an especially designed apparatus equipped with pH and redox electrodes to monitor pH and the oxidation poten-tial over the whole period of the experiments.

The experimental results show that weathering under the CO2-rich, H2S-bearing, hypothetical Archean atmosphere was much more intense than under the modern atmosphere. Ferrous iron released by dissolution remained in solution together with Ca, Mg, Na, and K until the solubility products of various ferrous sulfides were exceeded. Given the experimental conditions (Eh—pH — Fe 2+aq ), the precipitated ferrous sulfides lie within the monosulfide stability field on appropriate phase diagrams.

Deduction of a rate law for the cation dissolution is difficult for our experiments because of the superimposition of reactions involving oxidation of Fe2+ , precipitation of FeS, and scavenging by precipitates of various solute species.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. FB9, Geologie, Universität Gesamthochschule Essen, Postfach 10 37 64, W-4300, Essen 1, Germany

    Hans-Joachim Selbach

Authors
  1. Hubert Wiggering
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  2. Peter Neumann-Mahlkau
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  3. Hans-Joachim Selbach
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IGCP Project 157, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut), Saarstr. 23, W-6500, Mainz, Germany

    Manfred Schidlowski (Chairman) (Chairman)

  2. Biological Science Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Stjepko Golubic

  3. Dept. of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8208, USA

    Michael M. Kimberley

  4. Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, S.A., 5001, Australia

    David M. McKirdy Sr. (Lecturer) (Lecturer)

  5. Division of Continental Geology, Bureau of Mineral Resources, GPO Box 378, Canberra, A.C.T., 2601, Australia

    Philip A. Trudinger

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wiggering, H., Neumann-Mahlkau, P., Selbach, HJ. (1992). Experimental Procedures to Simulate Weathering Under Atmospheres Which May Have Characterized the Early Archean. In: Schidlowski, M., Golubic, S., Kimberley, M.M., McKirdy, D.M., Trudinger, P.A. (eds) Early Organic Evolution. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76884-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76884-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-76886-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-76884-2

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