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The Ancient Anoxic Biosphere Was Not As We Know It

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Biosphere Origin and Evolution

Abstract

A previously unreported observation is that whereas c. post-2000 Ma sedimentary rocks commonly contain microbially mediated, 13C-depleted carbonate concretions, such features are largely absent in older rocks. Excluding banded iron formations, δ 13C of sedimentary and diagenetic carbonates of the older rocks are ˜ 0 ± 3%; VPDB and are not characteristic of microbially recycled organic matter. We propose that c. pre-2000 Ma the biosphere operated in a different mode compared to the modern. Organic matter remineralisation was predominantly in the anoxic water column and sediment–water interface and rarely within sediments. Isotopically distinctive CO2 and CH4 readily escaped to atmosphere leaving no vestige as diagenetic carbonates. Around c. 2000 Ma, in response to the now oxic near-surface conditions, the anaerobic recycling microorganisms retreated deep into sediments to escape poisonous dioxygen. Redox gradients developed in the sedimentary column and abundant 12C-rich carbonate concretions then formed using recycled organic carbon, as observed in the Phanerozoic world.

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  1. Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Glasgow, G75 QF, Scotland

    A.E. Fallick, V.A. Melezhik & B.M. Simonson

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  1. A.E. Fallick
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  2. V.A. Melezhik
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  1. Inst. Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics, Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, 3 Pr.Koptyuga Novosibirsk, 630090 Novosibrisk, Russia

    Nikolay Dobretsov

  2. Institute of Cytology and Genetics, 17 Lavrenteva Prospekt Novosibirsk, 630090,Novosibirsk, Russia

    Nikolay Kolchanov

  3. Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 123 Profsoyuznaya, Moskva 117647, Moscow, Russia

    Alexey Rozanov

  4. Inst. Microbiology Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 7/2 Prospekt 60 Let, Oktyabrya Moskva 117312, Moscow, Russia

    Georgy Zavarzin

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Fallick, A., Melezhik, V., Simonson, B. (2008). The Ancient Anoxic Biosphere Was Not As We Know It. In: Dobretsov, N., Kolchanov, N., Rozanov, A., Zavarzin, G. (eds) Biosphere Origin and Evolution. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-68656-1_12

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