Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup
During Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth glaciations, the oceans gained massive amounts of alkalinity, culminating in the deposition of massive cap carbonates on deglaciation. Changes in terrestrial runoff associated with both breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent and deglaciation can explain some, but...
Published in: | Nature Geoscience |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/60401094/snowball_NG_gernon_final.pdf |
id |
ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead 2024-04-28T08:37:55+00:00 Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup Gernon, Thomas Hincks, Thea K Tyrrell, Toby Rholing, Eelco Palmer, Martin 2016-03 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1983/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/60401094/snowball_NG_gernon_final.pdf eng eng https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Gernon , T , Hincks , T K , Tyrrell , T , Rholing , E & Palmer , M 2016 , ' Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup ' , Nature Geoscience , vol. 9 , no. 3 , pp. 242-248 . https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 article 2016 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 2024-04-03T15:30:05Z During Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth glaciations, the oceans gained massive amounts of alkalinity, culminating in the deposition of massive cap carbonates on deglaciation. Changes in terrestrial runoff associated with both breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent and deglaciation can explain some, but not all of the requisite changes in ocean chemistry. Submarine volcanism along shallow ridges formed during supercontinent breakup results in the formation of large volumes of glassy hyaloclastite, which readily alters to palagonite. Here we estimate fluxes of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silica and bicarbonate associated with these shallow-ridge processes, and argue that extensive submarine volcanism during the breakup of Rodinia made an important contribution to changes in ocean chemistry during Snowball Earth glaciations. We use Monte Carlo simulations to show that widespread hyaloclastite alteration under near-global sea-ice cover could lead to Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ supersaturation over the course of the glaciation that is sufficient to explain the volume of cap carbonates deposited. Furthermore, our conservative estimates of phosphorus release are sufficient to explain the observed P:Fe ratios in sedimentary iron formations from this time. This large phosphorus release may have fuelled primary productivity, which in turn would have contributed to atmospheric O 2 rises that followed Snowball Earth episodes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice University of Bristol: Bristol Research Nature Geoscience 9 3 242 248 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
op_collection_id |
ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
description |
During Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth glaciations, the oceans gained massive amounts of alkalinity, culminating in the deposition of massive cap carbonates on deglaciation. Changes in terrestrial runoff associated with both breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent and deglaciation can explain some, but not all of the requisite changes in ocean chemistry. Submarine volcanism along shallow ridges formed during supercontinent breakup results in the formation of large volumes of glassy hyaloclastite, which readily alters to palagonite. Here we estimate fluxes of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silica and bicarbonate associated with these shallow-ridge processes, and argue that extensive submarine volcanism during the breakup of Rodinia made an important contribution to changes in ocean chemistry during Snowball Earth glaciations. We use Monte Carlo simulations to show that widespread hyaloclastite alteration under near-global sea-ice cover could lead to Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ supersaturation over the course of the glaciation that is sufficient to explain the volume of cap carbonates deposited. Furthermore, our conservative estimates of phosphorus release are sufficient to explain the observed P:Fe ratios in sedimentary iron formations from this time. This large phosphorus release may have fuelled primary productivity, which in turn would have contributed to atmospheric O 2 rises that followed Snowball Earth episodes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gernon, Thomas Hincks, Thea K Tyrrell, Toby Rholing, Eelco Palmer, Martin |
spellingShingle |
Gernon, Thomas Hincks, Thea K Tyrrell, Toby Rholing, Eelco Palmer, Martin Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup |
author_facet |
Gernon, Thomas Hincks, Thea K Tyrrell, Toby Rholing, Eelco Palmer, Martin |
author_sort |
Gernon, Thomas |
title |
Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup |
title_short |
Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup |
title_full |
Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup |
title_fullStr |
Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup |
title_sort |
snowball earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during rodinia breakup |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/60401094/snowball_NG_gernon_final.pdf |
genre |
Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Sea ice |
op_source |
Gernon , T , Hincks , T K , Tyrrell , T , Rholing , E & Palmer , M 2016 , ' Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup ' , Nature Geoscience , vol. 9 , no. 3 , pp. 242-248 . https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 |
op_relation |
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/d79ffcfd-9fb6-4538-bd9c-96754c20cead |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2632 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
242 |
op_container_end_page |
248 |
_version_ |
1797569161969270784 |