Abstract
In recent marine sediments, bacterial reduction of seawater sulphate is responsible for the formation of diagenetic sulphides, which are typically strongly depleted in 34S relative to source sulphate, and highly variable in their δ 34S values. In contrast, the δ 34S values of Archaean sedimentary sulphides are generally found to be less variable and nearly identical to those of sulphates in the same sedimentary units. This finding has led previous investigators1–4 to suggest that either sulphate-reducing bacteria had yet to develop in Archaean time, (especially before ∼2.75 billion years ago), and/or Archaean oceans contained much less sulphate (<< lmM compared with the present value of 28 mM), implying that the Archaean atmosphere contained much less free oxygen than the present atmosphere. But the sulphur isotope data on Archaean sediments from ∼2.6 to 3.5 x 103 Myr old can be better explained if sulphate-reducing bacteria were already active in oceans with temperatures of ∼30 to ∼50°C, and containing appreciable amounts (>1 mM) of sulphate, with δ 34S values of +3%
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Ohmoto, H., Felder, R. Bacterial activity in the warmer, sulphate-bearing, Archaean oceans. Nature 328, 244–246 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/328244a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/328244a0
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