TY - JOUR
T1 - Cycles of nutrient trace elements in the Phanerozoic ocean
AU - Large, Ross R.
AU - Halpin, Jacqueline A.
AU - Lounejeva, Elena
AU - Danyushevsky, Leonid V.
AU - Maslennikov, Valeriy V.
AU - Gregory, Daniel
AU - Sack, Patrick J.
AU - Haines, Peter W.
AU - Long, John A.
AU - Makoundi, Charles
AU - Stepanov, Aleksandr S.
PY - 2015/12
Y1 - 2015/12
N2 - Availability of nutrients in the ocean can be a major factor affecting bioproductivity, burial of carbon and release of oxygen. However, the nutrient trace element (TE) composition of the palaeo-ocean cannot be measured directly. Here we present a comprehensive global dataset on the TE content of marine sedimentary pyrite in black shales, dating back 700 million years, and demonstrate a systematic cyclic evolution of pyrite TE composition with time. The nutrient TE, molybdenum, selenium, cadmium and thallium measured in pyrite, and phosphorus measured on whole rock, rise sharply at 560 to 550. Ma followed by several cycles of TE variation through the Palaeozoic and into the Mesozoic. A number of factors could explain the trends. We suggest that variations in continental uplift, erosion and nutrient flux rates were possible drivers of the oceanic nutrient cycles. The cyclic patterns through the Phanerozoic suggest periods of nutrient-rich oceans that fostered key evolutionary events, followed by nutrient-poor oceans that encompass several major mass extinction events.
AB - Availability of nutrients in the ocean can be a major factor affecting bioproductivity, burial of carbon and release of oxygen. However, the nutrient trace element (TE) composition of the palaeo-ocean cannot be measured directly. Here we present a comprehensive global dataset on the TE content of marine sedimentary pyrite in black shales, dating back 700 million years, and demonstrate a systematic cyclic evolution of pyrite TE composition with time. The nutrient TE, molybdenum, selenium, cadmium and thallium measured in pyrite, and phosphorus measured on whole rock, rise sharply at 560 to 550. Ma followed by several cycles of TE variation through the Palaeozoic and into the Mesozoic. A number of factors could explain the trends. We suggest that variations in continental uplift, erosion and nutrient flux rates were possible drivers of the oceanic nutrient cycles. The cyclic patterns through the Phanerozoic suggest periods of nutrient-rich oceans that fostered key evolutionary events, followed by nutrient-poor oceans that encompass several major mass extinction events.
KW - Sedimentary pyrite
KW - Palaeo-ocean chemistry
KW - Mass extinction
KW - Ocean nutrients
KW - Metalliferous shales
KW - Evolution
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943660508&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gr.2015.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.gr.2015.06.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84943660508
SN - 1342-937X
VL - 28
SP - 1282
EP - 1293
JO - Gondwana Research
JF - Gondwana Research
IS - 4
ER -