Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era
Sulphate-reducing microbes affect the modern sulphur cycle, and may be quite ancient1,2, though when they evolved is uncertain. These organisms produce sulphide while oxidizing organic matter or hydrogen with sulphate3. At sulphate concentrations greater than 1 mM, the sulphides are isotopically fra...
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ftsydanskunivpub:oai:sdu.dk:publications/97f595e0-ba95-11dc-9626-000ea68e967b 2024-09-15T18:24:56+00:00 Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era Shen, Y. Buick, R. Canfield, D. E. 2001 https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/97f595e0-ba95-11dc-9626-000ea68e967b https://doi.org/10.1038/35065071 eng eng https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/97f595e0-ba95-11dc-9626-000ea68e967b info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Shen , Y , Buick , R & Canfield , D E 2001 , ' Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era ' , Nature , vol. 410 , no. 6824 , pp. 77-81 . https://doi.org/10.1038/35065071 article 2001 ftsydanskunivpub https://doi.org/10.1038/35065071 2024-07-22T23:48:45Z Sulphate-reducing microbes affect the modern sulphur cycle, and may be quite ancient1,2, though when they evolved is uncertain. These organisms produce sulphide while oxidizing organic matter or hydrogen with sulphate3. At sulphate concentrations greater than 1 mM, the sulphides are isotopically fractionated (depleted in 34S) by 10–40‰ compared to the sulphate, with fractionations decreasing to near 0‰ at lower concentrations2,4,5,6. The isotope record of sedimentary sulphides shows large fractionations relative to seawater sulphate by 2.7 Gyr ago, indicating microbial sulphate reduction7. In older rocks, however, much smaller fractionations are of equivocal origin, possibly biogenic but also possibly volcanogenic2,8,9,10. Here we report microscopic sulphides in ∼3.47-Gyr-old barites from North Pole, Australia, with maximum fractionations of 21.1‰, about a mean of 11.6‰, clearly indicating microbial sulphate reduction. Our results extend the geological record of microbial sulphate reduction back more than 750 million years, and represent direct evidence of an early specific metabolic pathway—allowing time calibration of a deep node on the tree of life. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Pole University of Southern Denmark Research Portal Nature 410 6824 77 81 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Southern Denmark Research Portal |
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ftsydanskunivpub |
language |
English |
description |
Sulphate-reducing microbes affect the modern sulphur cycle, and may be quite ancient1,2, though when they evolved is uncertain. These organisms produce sulphide while oxidizing organic matter or hydrogen with sulphate3. At sulphate concentrations greater than 1 mM, the sulphides are isotopically fractionated (depleted in 34S) by 10–40‰ compared to the sulphate, with fractionations decreasing to near 0‰ at lower concentrations2,4,5,6. The isotope record of sedimentary sulphides shows large fractionations relative to seawater sulphate by 2.7 Gyr ago, indicating microbial sulphate reduction7. In older rocks, however, much smaller fractionations are of equivocal origin, possibly biogenic but also possibly volcanogenic2,8,9,10. Here we report microscopic sulphides in ∼3.47-Gyr-old barites from North Pole, Australia, with maximum fractionations of 21.1‰, about a mean of 11.6‰, clearly indicating microbial sulphate reduction. Our results extend the geological record of microbial sulphate reduction back more than 750 million years, and represent direct evidence of an early specific metabolic pathway—allowing time calibration of a deep node on the tree of life. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shen, Y. Buick, R. Canfield, D. E. |
spellingShingle |
Shen, Y. Buick, R. Canfield, D. E. Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era |
author_facet |
Shen, Y. Buick, R. Canfield, D. E. |
author_sort |
Shen, Y. |
title |
Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era |
title_short |
Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era |
title_full |
Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era |
title_fullStr |
Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era |
title_full_unstemmed |
Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era |
title_sort |
isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early archaean era |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/97f595e0-ba95-11dc-9626-000ea68e967b https://doi.org/10.1038/35065071 |
genre |
North Pole |
genre_facet |
North Pole |
op_source |
Shen , Y , Buick , R & Canfield , D E 2001 , ' Isotopic evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archaean era ' , Nature , vol. 410 , no. 6824 , pp. 77-81 . https://doi.org/10.1038/35065071 |
op_relation |
https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/97f595e0-ba95-11dc-9626-000ea68e967b |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/35065071 |
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Nature |
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410 |
container_issue |
6824 |
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77 |
op_container_end_page |
81 |
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1810465335319461888 |