Abstract
Precambrian reduced carbon is more depleted in13C than what would be expected from the carbon isotopic composition of modern marine algae and algal mats. Since the photosynthetic carbon fixation by algae is the most likely source of the reduced carbon, the depletion has been considered an anomaly.
We examined factors that might have contributed to the carbon isotope fractionation from inorganic sources through algae to organic matter in a sedimentary rock, and related laboratory obtainable data to those from Precambrian rocks. Laboratory culture experiments were then performed with nine strains of algae at various concentrations of carbon dioxide, and the result was interpreted according to the relationship.
It indicated that the depletion could be understood in terms of a combined effect of fractionation factors, most depletion occurring at the fractionation during the photosynthetic carbon fixation. It also suggested that all but one algal strain incorporated bicarbonate as the source of carbon for its growth. The exception was a thermophilic, acidophilic alga, which must have used carbon dioxide as the carbon source.
The present study suggests that Precambrian atmosphere was enriched in carbon dioxide roughly two orders of magnitude more than its present atmospheric level.
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Mizutani, H., Wada, E. Effect of high atmospheric CO2 concentration on δ13 of algae. Origins Life Evol Biosphere 12, 377–390 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00927070
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00927070