Yang, X., Mao, J., Bowyer, F.T. et al. (5 more authors) (2024) A phosphate-rich marine reservoir in the redox stratified Ediacaran ocean. Communications Earth & Environment, 14. 41. ISSN 2662-4435
Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is the key nutrient thought to limit primary productivity on geological timescales, and hence P bioavailability exerted a major influence on Earth’s surface oxygenation dynamics through the Precambrian, with ensuing implications for biological evolution. Here, we document highly elevated P contents in non-glacial Ediacaran (635–541 Ma) iron formations from Northwestern China, with P dominantly occurring as carbonate fluorapatite formed during early diagenesis. These analyses, in combination with marine sediment P contents and phosphorite abundance data, point to a state change in oceanic P concentrations during the Ediacaran, which we attribute to enhanced recycling from marine sediments under redox-stratified conditions. Subsequent elevated rates of primary productivity and organic carbon production may have sustained the contemporaneous first appearance of complex deep marine habitats, and would have increased the extent and stability of surface water oxygen concentrations, leading to conditions conducive to the subsequent evolution of more complex animals.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, 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: | 12 Jan 2024 10:39 |
Last Modified: | 05 Feb 2024 16:15 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Research |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s43247-024-01211-2 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:207479 |