Revision [2554]
Last edited on 2010-08-23 14:31:36 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Ocean pipes could help the Earth to cure itself=====
Nature 449, 403 (27 September 2007) | doi:10.1038/449403a; Published online 26 September 2007
James E. Lovelock1 & Chris G. Rapley2
1. Green College, University of Oxford, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HG, UK
2. Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD, UK
We propose a way to stimulate the Earth's capacity to cure itself, as an emergency treatment for the pathology of global warming.Measurements of the climate system show that the Earth is fast becoming a hotter planet than anything yet experienced by humans.
Nature 449, 403 (27 September 2007) | doi:10.1038/449403a; Published online 26 September 2007
James E. Lovelock1 & Chris G. Rapley2
1. Green College, University of Oxford, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HG, UK
2. Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD, UK
We propose a way to stimulate the Earth's capacity to cure itself, as an emergency treatment for the pathology of global warming.Measurements of the climate system show that the Earth is fast becoming a hotter planet than anything yet experienced by humans.
Revision [2553]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:26:46 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Detoxification of sulphidic African shelf waters by blooming chemolithotrophs.=====
Lavik G, Stührmann T, Brüchert V, Van der Plas A, Mohrholz V, Lam P, Mussmann M, Fuchs BM, Amann R, Lass U, Kuypers MM.
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
Coastal waters support approximately 90 per cent of global fisheries and are therefore an important food reserve for our planet. Eutrophication of these waters, due to human activity, leads to severe oxygen depletion and the episodic occurrence of hydrogen sulphide-toxic to multi-cellular life-with disastrous consequences for coastal ecosytems. Here we show that an area of approximately 7,000 km(2) of African shelf, covered by sulphidic water, was detoxified by blooming bacteria that oxidized the biologically harmful sulphide to environmentally harmless colloidal sulphur and sulphate. Combined chemical analyses, stoichiometric modelling, isotopic incubations, comparative 16S ribosomal RNA, functional gene sequence analyses and fluorescence in situ hybridization indicate that the detoxification proceeded by chemolithotrophic oxidation of sulphide with nitrate and was mainly catalysed by two discrete populations of gamma- and epsilon-proteobacteria. Chemolithotrophic bacteria, accounting for approximately 20 per cent of the bacterioplankton in sulphidic waters, created a buffer zone between the toxic sulphidic subsurface waters and the oxic surface waters, where fish and other nekton live. This is the first time that large-scale detoxification of sulphidic waters by chemolithotrophs has been observed in an open-ocean system. The data suggest that sulphide can be completely consumed by bacteria in the subsurface waters and, thus, can be overlooked by remote sensing or monitoring of shallow coastal waters. Consequently, sulphidic bottom waters on continental shelves may be more common than previously believed, and could therefore have an important but as yet neglected effect on benthic communities.
Lavik G, Stührmann T, Brüchert V, Van der Plas A, Mohrholz V, Lam P, Mussmann M, Fuchs BM, Amann R, Lass U, Kuypers MM.
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
Coastal waters support approximately 90 per cent of global fisheries and are therefore an important food reserve for our planet. Eutrophication of these waters, due to human activity, leads to severe oxygen depletion and the episodic occurrence of hydrogen sulphide-toxic to multi-cellular life-with disastrous consequences for coastal ecosytems. Here we show that an area of approximately 7,000 km(2) of African shelf, covered by sulphidic water, was detoxified by blooming bacteria that oxidized the biologically harmful sulphide to environmentally harmless colloidal sulphur and sulphate. Combined chemical analyses, stoichiometric modelling, isotopic incubations, comparative 16S ribosomal RNA, functional gene sequence analyses and fluorescence in situ hybridization indicate that the detoxification proceeded by chemolithotrophic oxidation of sulphide with nitrate and was mainly catalysed by two discrete populations of gamma- and epsilon-proteobacteria. Chemolithotrophic bacteria, accounting for approximately 20 per cent of the bacterioplankton in sulphidic waters, created a buffer zone between the toxic sulphidic subsurface waters and the oxic surface waters, where fish and other nekton live. This is the first time that large-scale detoxification of sulphidic waters by chemolithotrophs has been observed in an open-ocean system. The data suggest that sulphide can be completely consumed by bacteria in the subsurface waters and, thus, can be overlooked by remote sensing or monitoring of shallow coastal waters. Consequently, sulphidic bottom waters on continental shelves may be more common than previously believed, and could therefore have an important but as yet neglected effect on benthic communities.
Revision [2552]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:24:29 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Anoxygenic photosynthesis modulated Proterozoic oxygen and sustained Earth's middle age.=====
Johnston DT, Wolfe-Simon F, Pearson A, Knoll AH.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
* Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Oct 27;106(43):18045-6.
Molecular oxygen (O(2)) began to accumulate in the atmosphere and surface ocean ca. 2,400 million years ago (Ma), but the persistent oxygenation of water masses throughout the oceans developed much later, perhaps beginning as recently as 580-550 Ma. For much of the intervening interval, moderately oxic surface waters lay above an oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) that tended toward euxinia (anoxic and sulfidic). Here we illustrate how contributions to primary production by anoxygenic photoautotrophs (including physiologically versatile cyanobacteria) influenced biogeochemical cycling during Earth's middle age, helping to perpetuate our planet's intermediate redox state by tempering O(2) production. Specifically, the ability to generate organic matter (OM) using sulfide as an electron donor enabled a positive biogeochemical feedback that sustained euxinia in the OMZ. On a geologic time scale, pyrite precipitation and burial governed a second feedback that moderated sulfide availability and water column oxygenation. Thus, we argue that the proportional contribution of anoxygenic photosynthesis to overall primary production would have influenced oceanic redox and the Proterozoic O(2) budget. Later Neoproterozoic collapse of widespread euxinia and a concomitant return to ferruginous (anoxic and Fe(2+) rich) subsurface waters set in motion Earth's transition from its prokaryote-dominated middle age, removing a physiological barrier to eukaryotic diversification (sulfide) and establishing, for the first time in Earth's history, complete dominance of oxygenic photosynthesis in the oceans. This paved the way for the further oxygenation of the oceans and atmosphere and, ultimately, the evolution of complex multicellular organisms.
Johnston DT, Wolfe-Simon F, Pearson A, Knoll AH.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
* Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Oct 27;106(43):18045-6.
Molecular oxygen (O(2)) began to accumulate in the atmosphere and surface ocean ca. 2,400 million years ago (Ma), but the persistent oxygenation of water masses throughout the oceans developed much later, perhaps beginning as recently as 580-550 Ma. For much of the intervening interval, moderately oxic surface waters lay above an oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) that tended toward euxinia (anoxic and sulfidic). Here we illustrate how contributions to primary production by anoxygenic photoautotrophs (including physiologically versatile cyanobacteria) influenced biogeochemical cycling during Earth's middle age, helping to perpetuate our planet's intermediate redox state by tempering O(2) production. Specifically, the ability to generate organic matter (OM) using sulfide as an electron donor enabled a positive biogeochemical feedback that sustained euxinia in the OMZ. On a geologic time scale, pyrite precipitation and burial governed a second feedback that moderated sulfide availability and water column oxygenation. Thus, we argue that the proportional contribution of anoxygenic photosynthesis to overall primary production would have influenced oceanic redox and the Proterozoic O(2) budget. Later Neoproterozoic collapse of widespread euxinia and a concomitant return to ferruginous (anoxic and Fe(2+) rich) subsurface waters set in motion Earth's transition from its prokaryote-dominated middle age, removing a physiological barrier to eukaryotic diversification (sulfide) and establishing, for the first time in Earth's history, complete dominance of oxygenic photosynthesis in the oceans. This paved the way for the further oxygenation of the oceans and atmosphere and, ultimately, the evolution of complex multicellular organisms.
Revision [2551]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:16:39 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Declining threshold for hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.=====
Stow CA, Qian SS, Craig JK.
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA. cstow@sc.edu
* Environ Sci Technol. 2005 Feb 1;39(3):55A.
The northwestern Gulf of Mexico shelf has been nicknamed "The Dead Zone" due to annual summertime (May-September) bottom-water hypoxia (dissolved oxygen < or =2 mg L(-1)) that can be extensive (>20 000 km2) and last for several months. Hypoxia has been attributed to eutrophication caused by increasing nitrogen loads, although directly linking hypoxia to nitrogen is difficult. While the areal extent of hypoxia has been shown to increase with Mississippi River flow, it is unclear whether this increase results from enhanced vertical water-column stratification or from eutrophication caused by river-borne nutrients. Disentangling the relative contributions of eutrophication versus stratification has important management consequences. Our analysis indicates that the top:bottom salinity difference is an important predictor of hypoxia, exhibiting a threshold, where the probability of hypoxia increases rapidly, at approximately 4.1 ppt. Using a Bayesian change-point model, we show that this stratification threshold decreased from 1982 to 2002, indicating the degree of stratification needed to induce hypoxia has gone down. Although this declining threshold does not link hypoxia and nitrogen, it does implicate a long-term factor transcending yearly flow-induced stratification differences. Concurrently, we show that surface temperature increased, while surface dissolved oxygen decreased, suggesting that factors in addition to nitrogen may be influencing the incidence of hypoxia in the bottom water.
Stow CA, Qian SS, Craig JK.
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA. cstow@sc.edu
* Environ Sci Technol. 2005 Feb 1;39(3):55A.
The northwestern Gulf of Mexico shelf has been nicknamed "The Dead Zone" due to annual summertime (May-September) bottom-water hypoxia (dissolved oxygen < or =2 mg L(-1)) that can be extensive (>20 000 km2) and last for several months. Hypoxia has been attributed to eutrophication caused by increasing nitrogen loads, although directly linking hypoxia to nitrogen is difficult. While the areal extent of hypoxia has been shown to increase with Mississippi River flow, it is unclear whether this increase results from enhanced vertical water-column stratification or from eutrophication caused by river-borne nutrients. Disentangling the relative contributions of eutrophication versus stratification has important management consequences. Our analysis indicates that the top:bottom salinity difference is an important predictor of hypoxia, exhibiting a threshold, where the probability of hypoxia increases rapidly, at approximately 4.1 ppt. Using a Bayesian change-point model, we show that this stratification threshold decreased from 1982 to 2002, indicating the degree of stratification needed to induce hypoxia has gone down. Although this declining threshold does not link hypoxia and nitrogen, it does implicate a long-term factor transcending yearly flow-induced stratification differences. Concurrently, we show that surface temperature increased, while surface dissolved oxygen decreased, suggesting that factors in addition to nitrogen may be influencing the incidence of hypoxia in the bottom water.
Revision [2550]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:15:37 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Warm tropical ocean surface and global anoxia during the mid-Cretaceous period.=====
Wilson PA, Norris RD.
Southampton Oceanography Centre, School of Ocean & Earth Sciences, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK. paw1@soc.soton.ac.uk
The middle of the Cretaceous period (about 120 to 80 Myr ago) was a time of unusually warm polar temperatures, repeated reef-drowning in the tropics and a series of oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) that promoted both the widespread deposition of organic-carbon-rich marine sediments and high biological turnover. The cause of the warm temperatures is unproven but widely attributed to high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In contrast, there is no consensus on the climatic causes and effects of the OAEs, with both high biological productivity and ocean 'stagnation' being invoked as the cause of ocean anoxia. Here we show, using stable isotope records from multiple species of well-preserved foraminifera, that the thermal structure of surface waters in the western tropical Atlantic Ocean underwent pronounced variability about 100 Myr ago, with maximum sea surface temperatures 3-5 degrees C warmer than today. This variability culminated in a collapse of upper-ocean stratification during OAE-1d (the 'Breistroffer' event), a globally significant period of organic-carbon burial that we show to have fundamental, stratigraphically valuable, geochemical similarities to the main OAEs of the Mesozoic era. Our records are consistent with greenhouse forcing being responsible for the warm temperatures, but are inconsistent both with explanations for OAEs based on ocean stagnation, and with the traditional view (reviewed in ref. 12) that past warm periods were more stable than today's climate.
=====Synergistic effects of climate-related variables suggest future physiological impairment in a top oceanic predator.=====
Rosa R, Seibel BA.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 100 Flagg Road, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. rrosa@fc.ul.pt
By the end of this century, anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions are expected to decrease the surface ocean pH by as much as 0.3 unit. At the same time, the ocean is expected to warm with an associated expansion of the oxygen minimum layer (OML). Thus, there is a growing demand to understand the response of the marine biota to these global changes. We show that ocean acidification will substantially depress metabolic rates (31%) and activity levels (45%) in the jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas, a top predator in the Eastern Pacific. This effect is exacerbated by high temperature. Reduced aerobic and locomotory scope in warm, high-CO(2) surface waters will presumably impair predator-prey interactions with cascading consequences for growth, reproduction, and survival. Moreover, as the OML shoals, squids will have to retreat to these shallower, less hospitable, waters at night to feed and repay any oxygen debt that accumulates during their diel vertical migration into the OML. Thus, we demonstrate that, in the absence of adaptation or horizontal migration, the synergism between ocean acidification, global warming, and expanding hypoxia will compress the habitable depth range of the species. These interactions may ultimately define the long-term fate of this commercially and ecologically important predator.
Wilson PA, Norris RD.
Southampton Oceanography Centre, School of Ocean & Earth Sciences, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK. paw1@soc.soton.ac.uk
The middle of the Cretaceous period (about 120 to 80 Myr ago) was a time of unusually warm polar temperatures, repeated reef-drowning in the tropics and a series of oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) that promoted both the widespread deposition of organic-carbon-rich marine sediments and high biological turnover. The cause of the warm temperatures is unproven but widely attributed to high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In contrast, there is no consensus on the climatic causes and effects of the OAEs, with both high biological productivity and ocean 'stagnation' being invoked as the cause of ocean anoxia. Here we show, using stable isotope records from multiple species of well-preserved foraminifera, that the thermal structure of surface waters in the western tropical Atlantic Ocean underwent pronounced variability about 100 Myr ago, with maximum sea surface temperatures 3-5 degrees C warmer than today. This variability culminated in a collapse of upper-ocean stratification during OAE-1d (the 'Breistroffer' event), a globally significant period of organic-carbon burial that we show to have fundamental, stratigraphically valuable, geochemical similarities to the main OAEs of the Mesozoic era. Our records are consistent with greenhouse forcing being responsible for the warm temperatures, but are inconsistent both with explanations for OAEs based on ocean stagnation, and with the traditional view (reviewed in ref. 12) that past warm periods were more stable than today's climate.
=====Synergistic effects of climate-related variables suggest future physiological impairment in a top oceanic predator.=====
Rosa R, Seibel BA.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 100 Flagg Road, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. rrosa@fc.ul.pt
By the end of this century, anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions are expected to decrease the surface ocean pH by as much as 0.3 unit. At the same time, the ocean is expected to warm with an associated expansion of the oxygen minimum layer (OML). Thus, there is a growing demand to understand the response of the marine biota to these global changes. We show that ocean acidification will substantially depress metabolic rates (31%) and activity levels (45%) in the jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas, a top predator in the Eastern Pacific. This effect is exacerbated by high temperature. Reduced aerobic and locomotory scope in warm, high-CO(2) surface waters will presumably impair predator-prey interactions with cascading consequences for growth, reproduction, and survival. Moreover, as the OML shoals, squids will have to retreat to these shallower, less hospitable, waters at night to feed and repay any oxygen debt that accumulates during their diel vertical migration into the OML. Thus, we demonstrate that, in the absence of adaptation or horizontal migration, the synergism between ocean acidification, global warming, and expanding hypoxia will compress the habitable depth range of the species. These interactions may ultimately define the long-term fate of this commercially and ecologically important predator.
Revision [2549]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:13:35 by FritsRinckerNo differences.
Revision [2548]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:11:41 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Nitrous oxide emissions from the gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone.=====
Walker JT, Stow CA, Geron C.
U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27711, USA. walker.johnt@epa.gov
The production of nitrous oxide (N(2)O), a potent greenhouse gas, in hypoxic coastal zones remains poorly characterized due to a lack of data, though large nitrogen inputs and deoxygenation typical of these systems create the potential for large N(2)O emissions. We report the first N(2)O emission measurements from the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone (GOMHZ), including an estimate of the emission "pulse" associated with the passage of Tropical Storm Edouard in August, 2008. Prestorm emission rates (25-287 nmol m(-2) hr(-1)) and dissolved N(2)O concentrations (5 - 30 nmol L(-1)) were higher than values reported for the Caribbean and western Tropical Atlantic, and on the lower end of the range of observations from deeper coastal hypoxic zones. During the storm, N(2)O rich subsurface water was mixed upward, increasing average surface concentrations and emission rates by 23% and 61%, respectively. Approximately 20% of the N(2)O within the water column vented to the atmosphere during the storm, equivalent to 13% of the total "hypoxia season" emission. Relationships between N(2)O, NO(3)(-), and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) suggest enhanced post storm N(2)O production, most likely in response to reoxygenation of the water column and redistribution of organic nitrogen. Our results indicate that mixing related emissions contribute significantly to total seasonal emissions and must therefore be included in emission models and inventories for the GOMHZ and other shallow coastal hypoxic zones.
Walker JT, Stow CA, Geron C.
U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27711, USA. walker.johnt@epa.gov
The production of nitrous oxide (N(2)O), a potent greenhouse gas, in hypoxic coastal zones remains poorly characterized due to a lack of data, though large nitrogen inputs and deoxygenation typical of these systems create the potential for large N(2)O emissions. We report the first N(2)O emission measurements from the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone (GOMHZ), including an estimate of the emission "pulse" associated with the passage of Tropical Storm Edouard in August, 2008. Prestorm emission rates (25-287 nmol m(-2) hr(-1)) and dissolved N(2)O concentrations (5 - 30 nmol L(-1)) were higher than values reported for the Caribbean and western Tropical Atlantic, and on the lower end of the range of observations from deeper coastal hypoxic zones. During the storm, N(2)O rich subsurface water was mixed upward, increasing average surface concentrations and emission rates by 23% and 61%, respectively. Approximately 20% of the N(2)O within the water column vented to the atmosphere during the storm, equivalent to 13% of the total "hypoxia season" emission. Relationships between N(2)O, NO(3)(-), and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) suggest enhanced post storm N(2)O production, most likely in response to reoxygenation of the water column and redistribution of organic nitrogen. Our results indicate that mixing related emissions contribute significantly to total seasonal emissions and must therefore be included in emission models and inventories for the GOMHZ and other shallow coastal hypoxic zones.
Revision [2547]
Edited on 2010-08-23 14:10:35 by FritsRinckerAdditions:
=====Molybdenum isotope evidence for widespread anoxia in mid-Proterozoic oceans.=====
Arnold GL, Anbar AD, Barling J, Lyons TW.
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. gail@earth.rochester.edu
* Science. 2005 Aug 12;309(5737):1017; author reply 1017.
How much dissolved oxygen was present in the mid-Proterozoic oceans between 1.8 and 1.0 billion years ago is debated vigorously. One model argues for oxygenation of the oceans soon after the initial rise of atmospheric oxygen approximately 2.3 billion years ago. Recent evidence for H(2)S in some mid-Proterozoic marine basins suggests, however, that the deep ocean remained anoxic until much later. New molybdenum isotope data from modern and ancient sediments indicate expanded anoxia during the mid-Proterozoic compared to the present-day ocean. Consequently, oxygenation of the deep oceans may have lagged that of the atmosphere by over a billion years.
=====Evidence for low sulphate and anoxia in a mid-Proterozoic marine basin.=====
Shen Y, Knoll AH, Walter MR.
Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. yshen@oeb.harvard.edu
* Nature. 2003 Jun 5;423(6940):592-3.
Many independent lines of evidence document a large increase in the Earth's surface oxidation state 2,400 to 2,200 million years ago, and a second biospheric oxygenation 800 to 580 million years ago, just before large animals appear in the fossil record. Such a two-staged oxidation implies a unique ocean chemistry for much of the Proterozoic eon, which would have been neither completely anoxic and iron-rich as hypothesized for Archaean seas, nor fully oxic as supposed for most of the Phanerozoic eon. The redox chemistry of Proterozoic oceans has important implications for evolution, but empirical constraints on competing environmental models are scarce. Here we present an analysis of the iron chemistry of shales deposited in the marine Roper Basin, Australia, between about 1,500 and 1,400 million years ago, which record deep-water anoxia beneath oxidized surface water. The sulphur isotopic compositions of pyrites in the shales show strong variations along a palaeodepth gradient, indicating low sulphate concentrations in mid-Proterozoic oceans. Our data help to integrate a growing body of evidence favouring a long-lived intermediate state of the oceans, generated by the early Proterozoic oxygen revolution and terminated by the environmental transformation late in the Proterozoic eon.
=====Increased marine production of N2O due to intensifying anoxia on the Indian continental shelf.=====
Naqvi SW, Jayakumar DA, Narvekar PV, Naik H, Sarma VV, D'Souza W, Joseph S, George MD.
National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India. naqvi@csnio.ren.nic.in
Eutrophication of surface waters and hypoxia in bottom waters has been increasing in many coastal areas, leading to very large depletions of marine life in the affected regions. These areas of high surface productivity and low bottom-water oxygen concentration are caused by increasing runoff of nutrients from land. Although the local ecological and socio-economic effects have received much attention, the potential contribution of increasing hypoxia to global-change phenomena is unknown. Here we report the intensification of one of the largest low-oxygen zones in the ocean, which develops naturally over the western Indian continental shelf during late summer and autumn. We also report the highest accumulations yet observed of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in open coastal waters. Increased N2O production is probably caused by the addition of anthropogenic nitrate and its subsequent denitrification, which is favoured by hypoxic conditions. We suggest that a global expansion of hypoxic zones may lead to an increase in marine production and emission of N2O, which, as a potent greenhouse gas, could contribute significantly to the accumulation of radiatively active trace gases in the atmosphere.
Arnold GL, Anbar AD, Barling J, Lyons TW.
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. gail@earth.rochester.edu
* Science. 2005 Aug 12;309(5737):1017; author reply 1017.
How much dissolved oxygen was present in the mid-Proterozoic oceans between 1.8 and 1.0 billion years ago is debated vigorously. One model argues for oxygenation of the oceans soon after the initial rise of atmospheric oxygen approximately 2.3 billion years ago. Recent evidence for H(2)S in some mid-Proterozoic marine basins suggests, however, that the deep ocean remained anoxic until much later. New molybdenum isotope data from modern and ancient sediments indicate expanded anoxia during the mid-Proterozoic compared to the present-day ocean. Consequently, oxygenation of the deep oceans may have lagged that of the atmosphere by over a billion years.
=====Evidence for low sulphate and anoxia in a mid-Proterozoic marine basin.=====
Shen Y, Knoll AH, Walter MR.
Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. yshen@oeb.harvard.edu
* Nature. 2003 Jun 5;423(6940):592-3.
Many independent lines of evidence document a large increase in the Earth's surface oxidation state 2,400 to 2,200 million years ago, and a second biospheric oxygenation 800 to 580 million years ago, just before large animals appear in the fossil record. Such a two-staged oxidation implies a unique ocean chemistry for much of the Proterozoic eon, which would have been neither completely anoxic and iron-rich as hypothesized for Archaean seas, nor fully oxic as supposed for most of the Phanerozoic eon. The redox chemistry of Proterozoic oceans has important implications for evolution, but empirical constraints on competing environmental models are scarce. Here we present an analysis of the iron chemistry of shales deposited in the marine Roper Basin, Australia, between about 1,500 and 1,400 million years ago, which record deep-water anoxia beneath oxidized surface water. The sulphur isotopic compositions of pyrites in the shales show strong variations along a palaeodepth gradient, indicating low sulphate concentrations in mid-Proterozoic oceans. Our data help to integrate a growing body of evidence favouring a long-lived intermediate state of the oceans, generated by the early Proterozoic oxygen revolution and terminated by the environmental transformation late in the Proterozoic eon.
=====Increased marine production of N2O due to intensifying anoxia on the Indian continental shelf.=====
Naqvi SW, Jayakumar DA, Narvekar PV, Naik H, Sarma VV, D'Souza W, Joseph S, George MD.
National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India. naqvi@csnio.ren.nic.in
Eutrophication of surface waters and hypoxia in bottom waters has been increasing in many coastal areas, leading to very large depletions of marine life in the affected regions. These areas of high surface productivity and low bottom-water oxygen concentration are caused by increasing runoff of nutrients from land. Although the local ecological and socio-economic effects have received much attention, the potential contribution of increasing hypoxia to global-change phenomena is unknown. Here we report the intensification of one of the largest low-oxygen zones in the ocean, which develops naturally over the western Indian continental shelf during late summer and autumn. We also report the highest accumulations yet observed of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in open coastal waters. Increased N2O production is probably caused by the addition of anthropogenic nitrate and its subsequent denitrification, which is favoured by hypoxic conditions. We suggest that a global expansion of hypoxic zones may lead to an increase in marine production and emission of N2O, which, as a potent greenhouse gas, could contribute significantly to the accumulation of radiatively active trace gases in the atmosphere.
