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Fossils & Ruins

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Life in Earths primordial sea was starved for sulfate

Date: November 7, 2014

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Source: University of Faculty of Science British Columbia

Summary: Earths ancient oceans held much lower concentrations of sulfate -- a
key biological nutrient -- than previously recognized, according to new
research. The findings paint a new portrait of our planet's early
biosphere and primitive marine life. Organisms require sulfur as a
nutrient, and it plays a central role in regulating atmospheric chemistry
and global climate.

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Research vessel on Lake Matano, Indonesia. Sean Crowe, University of British
Columbia.
Credit: Image courtesy of University of Faculty of
Science British Columbia

[Click to enlarge image]

arth's ancient oceans held much lower concentrations of sulfate -- a

key biological nutrient -- than previously recognized, according to
research published this week in Science.

The findings paint a new portrait of our planet's early

biosphere and primitive marine life. Organisms require
sulfur as a nutrient, and it plays a central role in
regulating atmospheric chemistry and global climate.

Related Articles

"Our findings are a fraction of previous estimates, and

thousands of time lower than current seawater levels,"
says Sean Crowe, a lead author of the study and an
assistant professor in the Departments of Microbiology
and Immunology, and Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric
Sciences at the University of British Columbia.

Ocean acidification

Global climate model

Global warming
Atmospheric chemistry
Vegetation
Climate

"At these trace amounts, sulfate would have been

poorly mixed and short-lived in the oceans -- and this sulfate scarcity would have
shaped the nature, activity and evolution of early life on Earth."
UBC, University of Southern Denmark, CalTech, University of Minnesota Duluth, and

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Mining Ancient Ores for Clues

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UBC, University of Southern Denmark, CalTech, University of Minnesota Duluth, and

University of Maryland researchers used new techniques and models to calibrate
fingerprints of bacterial sulfur metabolisms in Lake Matano, Indonesia -- a modern lake
with chemistry similar to Earth's early oceans.
Measuring these fingerprints in rocks older than 2.5 billion years, they discovered
sulfate 80 times lower than previously thought.
The more sensitive fingerprinting provides a powerful tool to search for sulfur
metabolisms deep in Earth's history or on other planets like Mars.
Findings
Previous research has suggested that Archean sulfate levels were as low as 200
micromolar -- concentrations at which sulfur would still have been abundantly available
to early marine life.
The new results indicate levels were likely less than 2.5 micromolar, thousands of
times lower than today.

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What the researchers did

Researchers used state-of-the-art mass spectrometric approaches developed at
California Institute of Technology to demonstrate that microorganisms fractionate sulfur
isotopes at concentrations orders of magnitude lower than previously recognized.
They found that microbial sulfur metabolisms impart large fingerprints even when
sulfate is scarce.
The team used the techniques on samples from Lake Matano, Indonesia -- a sulfatepoor modern analogue for the Earth's Archean oceans.
"New measurements in these unique modern environments allow us to use numerical
models to reconstruct ancient ocean chemistry with unprecedented resolution" says
Sergei Katsev an Associate Professor at the Large Lakes Observatory, University of
Minnesota Duluth.
Using models informed by sulfate isotope fractionation in Lake Matano, they
established a new calibration for sulfate isotope fractionation that is extensible to the
Earth's oceans throughout history. The researchers then reconstructed Archean
seawater sulfate concentrations using these models and an exhaustive compilation of
sulfur isotope data from Archean sedimentary rocks.
Crowe initiated the research while a post-doctoral fellow with Donald Canfield at the
University of Southern Denmark.
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by University of Faculty of Science
British Columbia. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:
1. S. A. Crowe, G. Paris, S. Katsev, C. Jones, S.-T. Kim, A. L. Zerkle, S.
Nomosatryo, D. A. Fowle, J. F. Adkins, A. L. Sessions, J. Farquhar, D. E.
Canfield. Sulfate was a trace constituent of Archean seawater. Science, 2014;
346 (6210): 735 DOI: 10.1126/science.1258966

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Cite This Page:

MLA

the West African Deep Ocean

Chicago

University of Faculty of Science British Columbia. "Life in Earths primordial sea

was starved for sulfate." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 November 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141107091451.htm>.

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