Daines, SJ, Mills, BJW orcid.org/0000-0002-9141-0931 and Lenton, TM (2017) Atmospheric oxygen regulation at low Proterozoic levels by incomplete oxidative weathering of sedimentary organic carbon. Nature Communications, 8. 14379. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract
It is unclear why atmospheric oxygen remained trapped at low levels for more than 1.5 billion years following the Paleoproterozoic Great Oxidation Event. Here, we use models for erosion, weathering and biogeochemical cycling to show that this can be explained by the tectonic recycling of previously accumulated sedimentary organic carbon, combined with the oxygen sensitivity of oxidative weathering. Our results indicate a strong negative feedback regime when atmospheric oxygen concentration is of order pO2∼0.1 PAL (present atmospheric level), but that stability is lost at pO2<0.01 PAL. Within these limits, the carbonate carbon isotope (δ13C) record becomes insensitive to changes in organic carbon burial rate, due to counterbalancing changes in the weathering of isotopically light organic carbon. This can explain the lack of secular trend in the Precambrian δ13C record, and reopens the possibility that increased biological productivity and resultant organic carbon burial drove the Great Oxidation Event.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2017. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Feb 2017 10:21 |
Last Modified: | 22 Jul 2020 10:48 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14379 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/ncomms14379 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:112190 |