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Constraints on ocean carbonate chemistry and pCO2 in the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 41–45 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

One of the great problems in the history of Earth’s climate is how to reconcile evidence for liquid water and habitable climates on early Earth with the Faint Young Sun predicted from stellar evolution models. Possible solutions include a wide range of atmospheric and oceanic chemistries, with large uncertainties in boundary conditions for the evolution and diversification of life and the role of the global carbon cycle in maintaining habitable climates. Increased atmospheric CO2 is a common component of many solutions, but its connection to the carbon chemistry of the ocean remains unknown. Here we present calcium isotope data spanning the period from 2.7 to 1.9 billion years ago from evaporitic sedimentary carbonates that can test this relationship. These data, from the Tumbiana Formation, the Campbellrand Platform and the Pethei Group, exhibit limited variability. Such limited variability occurs in marine environments with a high ratio of calcium to carbonate alkalinity. We are therefore able to rule out soda ocean conditions during this period of Earth history. We further interpret this and existing data to provide empirical constraints for carbonate chemistry of the ancient oceans and for the role of CO2 in compensating for the Faint Young Sun.

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Figure 1: Calibration of calcium isotope range to Ca/SO4 in evaporites.
Figure 2: Histograms of calcium isotope data from three Archaean–Palaeoproterozoic sections (grey) and Messinian sulfate data8 from the Mediterranean (black) for comparison.
Figure 3: Equilibrium carbonate chemistry solutions in pCO 2–pH space, divided by the calcium isotope constraint that Ca/ALK >0.75.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (SCOL 339006 to C.L.B.). S. A. Maclennan and A. M. Campion aided J.J.K. in collecting Tumbiana samples. D. P. Santiago Ramos and E. A. Lundstrom contributed to laboratory analyses.

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Author notes

  1. G. Paris

    Present address: Present address: CRPG, UMR 7358, CNRS—Université de Lorraine, 54500 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

    C. L. Blättler, J. J. Kasbohm & J. A. Higgins

  2. Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

    L. R. Kump

  3. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    W. W. Fischer & G. Paris

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Contributions

C.L.B. conceived of the study; L.R.K., W.W.F., G.P. and J.J.K. conducted field work and collected samples; C.L.B. and J.A.H. obtained and analysed the data.

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Correspondence to C. L. Blättler.

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Blättler, C., Kump, L., Fischer, W. et al. Constraints on ocean carbonate chemistry and pCO2 in the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic. Nature Geosci 10, 41–45 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2844

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