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Dating the rise of atmospheric oxygen

Nature volume 427, pages 117–120 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Several lines of geological and geochemical evidence indicate that the level of atmospheric oxygen was extremely low before 2.45 billion years (Gyr) ago, and that it had reached considerable levels by 2.22 Gyr ago. Here we present evidence that the rise of atmospheric oxygen had occurred by 2.32 Gyr ago. We found that syngenetic pyrite is present in organic-rich shales of the 2.32-Gyr-old Rooihoogte and Timeball Hill formations, South Africa. The range of the isotopic composition of sulphur in this pyrite is large and shows no evidence of mass-independent fractionation, indicating that atmospheric oxygen was present at significant levels (that is, greater than 10-5 times that of the present atmospheric level) during the deposition of these units. The presence of rounded pebbles of sideritic iron formation at the base of the Rooihoogte Formation and an extensive and thick ironstone layer consisting of haematitic pisolites and oölites in the upper Timeball Hill Formation indicate that atmospheric oxygen rose significantly, perhaps for the first time, during the deposition of the Rooihoogte and Timeball Hill formations. These units were deposited between what are probably the second and third of the three Palaeoproterozoic glacial events.

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Figure 1: Map of Early Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary successions of South Africa.
Figure 2: Correlation chart for the Transvaal Supergroup in the Griqualand West and Transvaal structural basins, South Africa (modified from ref. 39).
Figure 3
Figure 4: Plot of δ33S* versus δ34S* values in pyrite of the Rooihoogte and Timeball Hill formations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Lange for help with the SEM work; W. Yang for help with sample preparation; and J. Brouwer for giving us access to drill core EBA-2, which was drilled by Gold Fields Ltd in the Potchefstroom area, and is now stored by the Geological Survey of South Africa. This study was supported by the NASA-Ames Research Center, NASA, PRF/ACS, NSF and South African Research Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    A. Bekker & H. D. Holland

  2. Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road, Washington DC, 20015, USA

    P.-L. Wang & D. Rumble III

  3. AIRIE Program, Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523-1482, USA

    H. J. Stein & J. L. Hannah

  4. Department of Geology, Rand Afrikaans University, Auckland Park, 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa

    L. L. Coetzee & N. J. Beukes

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Bekker, A., Holland, H., Wang, PL. et al. Dating the rise of atmospheric oxygen. Nature 427, 117–120 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02260

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