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Atmospheric oxygenation caused by a change in volcanic degassing pressure

Nature volume 478, pages 229–232 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

The Precambrian history of our planet is marked by two major events: a pulse of continental crust formation at the end of the Archaean eon and a weak oxygenation of the atmosphere (the Great Oxidation Event) that followed, at 2.45 billion years ago. This oxygenation has been linked to the emergence of oxygenic cyanobacteria1,2 and to changes in the compositions of volcanic gases3,4, but not to the composition of erupting lavas—geochemical constraints indicate that the oxidation state of basalts and their mantle sources has remained constant since 3.5 billion years ago5,6. Here we propose that a decrease in the average pressure of volcanic degassing changed the oxidation state of sulphur in volcanic gases, initiating the modern biogeochemical sulphur cycle and triggering atmospheric oxygenation. Using thermodynamic calculations simulating gas–melt equilibria in erupting magmas, we suggest that mostly submarine Archaean volcanoes produced gases with SO2/H2S < 1 and low sulphur content. Emergence of the continents due to a global decrease in sea level and growth of the continental crust in the late Archaean then led to widespread subaerial volcanism, which in turn yielded gases much richer in sulphur and dominated by SO2. Dissolution of sulphur in sea water and the onset of sulphate reduction processes could then oxidize the atmosphere.

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Figure 1: Calculated sulphur content and speciation in volcanic gases as a function of pressure.
Figure 2: Calculated compositions in mole fractions of volcanic gases as a function of pressure.
Figure 3: Schematic illustrating the relationships between pressure of volcanic degassing and redox biogeochemical cycling.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Lyons, D. Canil and N. Sleep for comments. We acknowledge support by INSU-PNP and the ANR (grants ANR-10-BLAN-60301 and ANR-10-BLAN-62101).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des Sciences de la Terre d’Orléans, CNRS-INSU/Université d’Orléans/Université de Tours, 1a rue de la Férollerie 45071, Orléans cedex 2, France ,

    Fabrice Gaillard & Bruno Scaillet

  2. ISTerre, Université Joseph Fourier de Grenoble, CNRS, 1381 rue de la Piscine, 38400 Saint Martin d’Hères, France ,

    Nicholas T. Arndt

Authors
  1. Fabrice Gaillard
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  2. Bruno Scaillet
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All authors contributed to discussions and writing. F.G. performed the calculations and wrote the first draft.

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Correspondence to Fabrice Gaillard.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Gaillard, F., Scaillet, B. & Arndt, N. Atmospheric oxygenation caused by a change in volcanic degassing pressure. Nature 478, 229–232 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10460

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