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Biogeochemistry of Sulfur and the Mechanisms of Sulfide-Sulfate Mineralization in Archean Oceans

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Early Organic Evolution

Abstract

The biogeochemistry of sulfur and the mechanisms of sulfide/sulfate mineralization in Archean oceans have been thought by most geoscientists to have been much different from those in younger oceans. Archean oceans contained very little or no SO 2-4 , and sulfatereducing bacteria (SRB) were not active in the oceans. Fe-sulfides in the marine sediments formed directly from magmatic H2S, rather than by bacterial reduction of seawater sulfate. Bedded sulfate minerals in the marine sediments were formed by local oxidation of magmatic H2S by sulfide-oxidizing bacteria, rather than by evaporation of sulfate-rich seawater, and the massive Cu — Fe — Zn sulfide deposits associated with submarine volcanic rocks (volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, VMSDs) were formed by magmatic H2S, rather than H2S-bearing fluids that developed from sulfate-bearing seawater through reactions with high temperature country rocks in the hydrothermal plumbing systems.

Critical examinations of the published and unpublished data on the sulfur isotopic characteristics (e.g. the skewness, range and mean values of the δ34S frequency curves, and the relationships between the rate of sulfate reduction and the kinetic isotopic effects) of marine sediments and VMSDs of various geologic ages and those of various laboratory systems, however, suggest that the biogeochemistry of sulfur and the mechanisms of sulfide/sulfate mineralization in the oceans have basically been the same since at least ~ 3.5 b.y. ago, except for some important differences in the environmental parameters for SRB. Archean oceans, as far back as ∼3.5 b.y. ago, were probably already sulfate-rich, with a sulfate concentration more than ∼1/3 of that in modern oceans (i.e. > 10 mM sulfate), and with a δ34S value of + 2%o (vs. + 20%o for the modern oceans). This model implies that the accumulation of free oxygen in the atmosphere predates 3.5 b.y. ago. SRB were probably more active in Archean oceans than in modern oceans, possibly because the ocean temperatures were about 30–40 °C higher, and more digestible foods were available for SRB. The higher ocean temperature and the higher availability of digestible foods for SRB may be related ultimately to the higher PCO2 (~10-2atm vs. 10-3.5atm of the present-day atmosphere) and the lower PO2 (~10-2.5atm vs. the present value of 10-0.7atm).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Hiroshi Ohmoto

  2. Institute of Petrology, Mineralogy & Economic Geology, Tohoku University, Sendai 980, Japan

    Hiroshi Ohmoto

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  1. Hiroshi Ohmoto
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IGCP Project 157, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut), Saarstr. 23, W-6500, Mainz, Germany

    Manfred Schidlowski (Chairman) (Chairman)

  2. Biological Science Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Stjepko Golubic

  3. Dept. of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8208, USA

    Michael M. Kimberley

  4. Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, S.A., 5001, Australia

    David M. McKirdy Sr. (Lecturer) (Lecturer)

  5. Division of Continental Geology, Bureau of Mineral Resources, GPO Box 378, Canberra, A.C.T., 2601, Australia

    Philip A. Trudinger

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ohmoto, H. (1992). Biogeochemistry of Sulfur and the Mechanisms of Sulfide-Sulfate Mineralization in Archean Oceans. In: Schidlowski, M., Golubic, S., Kimberley, M.M., McKirdy, D.M., Trudinger, P.A. (eds) Early Organic Evolution. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76884-2_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76884-2_29

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