Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 110, Issue 44, Pages 17638-17643Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218851110
Keywords
Neoarchean polysulfide production pathways; delta S-34; Delta S-33; Delta S-36
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Funding
- University, State, and Commonwealth Governments
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- NASA Astobiology Institute
- Natural Environment Research Council
- University of Western Australia for the award of the Gledden Senior Fellowship
- NERC [NE/J023485/1, NE/J022802/2, NE/I005862/2, NE/J023485/2] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/I005862/2, NE/J023485/2, NE/J022802/2, NE/J023485/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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It is generally thought that the sulfate reduction metabolism is ancient and would have been established well before the Neoarchean. It is puzzling, therefore, that the sulfur isotope record of the Neoarchean is characterized by a signal of atmospheric mass-independent chemistry rather than a strong overprint by sulfate reducers. Here, we present a study of the four sulfur isotopes obtained using secondary ion MS that seeks to reconcile a number of features seen in the Neoarchean sulfur isotope record. We suggest that Neoarchean ocean basins had two coexisting, significantly sized sulfur pools and that the pathways forming pyrite precursors played an important role in establishing how the isotopic characteristics of each of these pools was transferred to the sedimentary rock record. One of these pools is suggested to be a soluble (sulfate) pool, and the other pool (atmospherically derived elemental sulfur) is suggested to be largely insoluble and unreactive until it reacts with hydrogen sulfide. We suggest that the relative contributions of these pools to the formation of pyrite depend on both the accumulation of the insoluble pool and the rate of sulfide production in the pyrite-forming environments. We also suggest that the existence of a significant nonsulfate pool of reactive sulfur has masked isotopic evidence for the widespread activity of sulfate reducers in the rock record.
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