Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth
The Earth’s most severe ice ages interrupted a crucial interval in eukaryotic evolution with widespread ice coverage during the Cryogenian Period (720 to 635 Ma). Aerobic eukaryotes must have survived the “Snowball Earth” glaciations, requiring the persistence of oxygenated marine habitats, yet evid...
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ftuninevadalveg:oai:digitalscholarship.unlv.edu:geo_fac_articles-1398 2023-05-15T16:41:54+02:00 Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth Lechte, Maxwell A. Wallace, Malcolm W. van Smeerdijk Hooda, Ashleig Li, Weiqiang Jiang, Ganqing Halverson, Galen P. Asael, Dan McColl, Stephanie L. Planavsky, Noah J. Paul F. Hoffman 2019-12-17T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/geo_fac_articles/399 https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&context=geo_fac_articles English eng Digital Scholarship@UNLV https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/geo_fac_articles/399 https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&context=geo_fac_articles Geoscience Faculty Publications Oxygenation Glaciation Snowball Earth Iron formation Fe isotopes Earth Sciences Physical Sciences and Mathematics article 2019 ftuninevadalveg 2023-01-16T16:50:55Z The Earth’s most severe ice ages interrupted a crucial interval in eukaryotic evolution with widespread ice coverage during the Cryogenian Period (720 to 635 Ma). Aerobic eukaryotes must have survived the “Snowball Earth” glaciations, requiring the persistence of oxygenated marine habitats, yet evidence for these environments is lacking. We examine iron formations within globally distributed Cryogenian glacial successions to reconstruct the redox state of the synglacial oceans. Iron isotope ratios and cerium anomalies from a range of glaciomarine environments reveal pervasive anoxia in the ice-covered oceans but increasing oxidation with proximity to the ice shelf grounding line. We propose that the outwash of subglacial meltwater supplied oxygen to the synglacial oceans, creating glaciomarine oxygen oases. The confluence of oxygen-rich meltwater and iron-rich seawater may have provided sufficient energy to sustain chemosynthetic communities. These processes could have supplied the requisite oxygen and organic carbon source for the survival of early animals and other eukaryotic heterotrophs through these extreme glaciations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Shelf University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Digital Scholarship@UNLV |
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Open Polar |
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University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Digital Scholarship@UNLV |
op_collection_id |
ftuninevadalveg |
language |
English |
topic |
Oxygenation Glaciation Snowball Earth Iron formation Fe isotopes Earth Sciences Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
spellingShingle |
Oxygenation Glaciation Snowball Earth Iron formation Fe isotopes Earth Sciences Physical Sciences and Mathematics Lechte, Maxwell A. Wallace, Malcolm W. van Smeerdijk Hooda, Ashleig Li, Weiqiang Jiang, Ganqing Halverson, Galen P. Asael, Dan McColl, Stephanie L. Planavsky, Noah J. Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth |
topic_facet |
Oxygenation Glaciation Snowball Earth Iron formation Fe isotopes Earth Sciences Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
description |
The Earth’s most severe ice ages interrupted a crucial interval in eukaryotic evolution with widespread ice coverage during the Cryogenian Period (720 to 635 Ma). Aerobic eukaryotes must have survived the “Snowball Earth” glaciations, requiring the persistence of oxygenated marine habitats, yet evidence for these environments is lacking. We examine iron formations within globally distributed Cryogenian glacial successions to reconstruct the redox state of the synglacial oceans. Iron isotope ratios and cerium anomalies from a range of glaciomarine environments reveal pervasive anoxia in the ice-covered oceans but increasing oxidation with proximity to the ice shelf grounding line. We propose that the outwash of subglacial meltwater supplied oxygen to the synglacial oceans, creating glaciomarine oxygen oases. The confluence of oxygen-rich meltwater and iron-rich seawater may have provided sufficient energy to sustain chemosynthetic communities. These processes could have supplied the requisite oxygen and organic carbon source for the survival of early animals and other eukaryotic heterotrophs through these extreme glaciations. |
author2 |
Paul F. Hoffman |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lechte, Maxwell A. Wallace, Malcolm W. van Smeerdijk Hooda, Ashleig Li, Weiqiang Jiang, Ganqing Halverson, Galen P. Asael, Dan McColl, Stephanie L. Planavsky, Noah J. |
author_facet |
Lechte, Maxwell A. Wallace, Malcolm W. van Smeerdijk Hooda, Ashleig Li, Weiqiang Jiang, Ganqing Halverson, Galen P. Asael, Dan McColl, Stephanie L. Planavsky, Noah J. |
author_sort |
Lechte, Maxwell A. |
title |
Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth |
title_short |
Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth |
title_full |
Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth |
title_fullStr |
Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth |
title_full_unstemmed |
Subglacial Meltwater Supported Aerobic Marine Habitats During Snowball Earth |
title_sort |
subglacial meltwater supported aerobic marine habitats during snowball earth |
publisher |
Digital Scholarship@UNLV |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/geo_fac_articles/399 https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&context=geo_fac_articles |
genre |
Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Ice Shelf |
op_source |
Geoscience Faculty Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/geo_fac_articles/399 https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&context=geo_fac_articles |
_version_ |
1766032371027542016 |