Ferruginous conditions dominated later neoproterozoic deep-water chemistry

Earth's surface chemical environment has evolved from an early anoxic condition to the oxic state we have today. Transitional between an earlier Proterozoic world with widespread deep- water anoxia and a Phanerozoic world with large oxygen- utilizing animals, the Neoproterozoic Era [ 1000 to 542 million years ago ( Ma)] plays a key role in this history. The details of Neoproterozoic Earth surface oxygenation, however, remain unclear. We report that through much of the later Neoproterozoic (< 742 +/- 6 Ma), anoxia remained widespread beneath the mixed layer of the oceans; deeper water masses were sometimes sulfidic but were mainly Fe2+- enriched. These ferruginous conditions marked a return to ocean chemistry not seen for more than one billion years of Earth history.