Geologic and Geochemical Constraints on Earth's Early Atmosphere

The influence of organisms on the composition of sea-water

Redfield, A. C., Ketchum, B. H., & Richards, F. A. (1963) · Symposium on Experimental and Efficient Algorithms · Cited by 4,406

The Evolution and Future of Earth’s Nitrogen Cycle

Canfield, D. E., Glazer, A. N., & Falkowski, P. G. (2010) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1186120 · Cited by 2,697

A negative feedback mechanism for the long‐term stabilization of Earth's surface temperature

Walker, J. C. G., Hays, P. B., & Kasting, J. F. (1981) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans · doi:10.1029/jc086ic10p09776 · Cited by 2,310

Nitrite-driven anaerobic methane oxidation by oxygenic bacteria

Ettwig, K. F., Butler, M. K., Paslier, D. L., Pelletier, É., Mangenot, S., Kuypers, M. M. M., Schreiber, F., Dutilh, B. E., Zedelius, J., de Beer, D., et al. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08883 · Cited by 1,864

The Chemical Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans

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Atmospheric Influence of Earth's Earliest Sulfur Cycle

Farquhar, J., Bao, H., & Thiemens, M. (2000) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.289.5480.756 · Cited by 1,805

Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago

Wilde, S. A., Valley, J. W., Peck, W. H., & Graham, C. M. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35051550 · Cited by 1,744

XXXI. On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground

Arrhenius, S. A. (1896) · The London Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science · doi:10.1080/14786449608620846 · Cited by 1,726

Distribution of yttrium and rare-earth elements in the Penge and Kuruman iron-formations, Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa

Bau, M., & Dulski, P. (1996) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/0301-9268(95)00087-9 · Cited by 1,687

Dating the rise of atmospheric oxygen

Bekker, A., Holland, H. D., Wang, P.-L., Rumble, D., Stein, H. J., Hannah, J. L., Coetzee, L. L., & Beukes, N. J. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02260 · Cited by 1,435

The Archean atmosphere

Catling, D. C., & Zahnle, K. J. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax1420 · Cited by 568

Origin and evolution of the atmospheres of early Venus, Earth and Mars

Lammer, H., Zerkle, A. L., Gebauer, S., Tosi, N., Noack, L., Scherf, M., Pilat-Lohinger, E., Güdel, M., Grenfell, J. L., Godolt, M., et al. (2018) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/s00159-018-0108-y · Cited by 202

A statistical analysis of the carbon isotope record from the Archean to Phanerozoic and implications for the rise of oxygen

Krissansen-Totton, J., Buick, R., & Catling, D. C. (2015) · American Journal of Science · doi:10.2475/04.2015.01 · Cited by 180

The Great Oxidation Event preceded a Paleoproterozoic “snowball Earth”

Warke, M. R., Rocco, T. D., Zerkle, A. L., Lepland, A., Prave, A. R., Martin, A. P., Ueno, Y., Condon, D. J., & Claire, M. W. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2003090117 · Cited by 165

Nitrogen isotope evidence for alkaline lakes on late Archean continents

Stüeken, E. E., Buick, R., & Schauer, A. J. (2014) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.11.037 · Cited by 162

Onset of the aerobic nitrogen cycle during the Great Oxidation Event

Zerkle, A. L., Poulton, S. W., Newton, R. J., Mettam, C., Claire, M. W., Bekker, A., & Junium, C. K. (2017) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature20826 · Cited by 151

Sulfur and lead isotopic evidence of relic Archean sediments in the Pitcairn mantle plume

Delavault, H., Chauvel, C., Thomassot, É., Devey, C. W., & Dazas, B. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1523805113 · Cited by 145

Evaluating a primary carbonate pathway for manganese enrichments in reducing environments

Wittkop, C. A., Swanner, E. D., Grengs, A., Lambrecht, N., Fakhraee, M., Myrbo, A. E., Bray, A. W., Poulton, S. W., & Katsev, S. (2020) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116201 · Cited by 123

The geobiological nitrogen cycle: From microbes to the mantle

Zerkle, A. L., & Mikhail, S. (2017) · Geobiology · doi:10.1111/gbi.12228 · Cited by 113

Multiple oscillations in Neoarchaean atmospheric chemistry

Izon, G., Zerkle, A. L., Zhelezinskaia, I., Farquhar, J., Newton, R. J., Poulton, S. W., Eigenbrode, J. L., & Claire, M. W. (2015) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.09.018 · Cited by 99

Biogeochemical Transformations in the History of the Ocean

Lenton, T. M., & Daines, S. J. (2016) · Annual Review of Marine Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060521 · Cited by 80

Ancient micrometeorites suggestive of an oxygen-rich Archaean upper atmosphere

Tomkins, A. G., Bowlt, L., Genge, M., Wilson, S., Brand, H. E. A., & Wykes, J. L. (2016) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature17678 · Cited by 66

Strong evidence for a weakly oxygenated ocean–atmosphere system during the Proterozoic

Wang, C., Lechte, M. A., Reinhard, C. T., Asael, D., Cole, D. B., Halverson, G. P., Porter, S. M., Galili, N., Halevy, I., Rainbird, R. H., et al. (2022) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2116101119 · Cited by 56

Molybdenum record from black shales indicates oscillating atmospheric oxygen levels in the early Paleoproterozoic

Asael, D., Rouxel, O. J., Poulton, S. W., Lyons, T. W., & Bekker, A. (2018) · American Journal of Science · doi:10.2475/03.2018.01 · Cited by 52

Photochemical modelling of atmospheric oxygen levels confirms two stable states

Gregory, B. S., Claire, M. W., & Rugheimer, S. (2021) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116818 · Cited by 50

A seawater-sulfate origin for early Earth’s volcanic sulfur

Ohmoto, H. (2020) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0601-6 · Cited by 47

The uranium isotopic record of shales and carbonates through geologic time

Chen, X., Tissot, F. L. H., Jansen, M. F., Bekker, A., Liu, C. X., Nie, N. X., Halverson, G. P., Veizer, J., & Dauphas, N. (2021) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2021.01.040 · Cited by 48

Carbonate deposition in the Palaeoproterozoic Onega basin from Fennoscandia: a spotlight on the transition from the Lomagundi-Jatuli to Shunga events

Melezhik, V. A., Fallick, A. E., Brasier, M., & Lepland, A. (2015) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.05.005 · Cited by 45

Aspects of the Archean-Proterozoic transition: How the great Huronian Glacial Event was initiated by rift-related uplift and terminated at the rift-drift transition during break-up of Lauroscandia

Young, G. M. (2018) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.12.013 · Cited by 44

Mineral paragenesis in Paleozoic manganese ore deposits: Depositional versus post-depositional formation processes

Yan, H., Pi, D.-H., Jiang, S., Mao, J., Xu, L., Yang, X., Hao, W., Mänd, K., Li, L., Konhauser, K. O., et al. (2022) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2022.03.030 · Cited by 42

Mobility of nutrients and trace metals during weathering in the late Archean

Hao, J., Sverjensky, D. A., & Hazen, R. M. (2017) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.05.003 · Cited by 40

Atmospheric CO 2 levels from 2.7 billion years ago inferred from micrometeorite oxidation

Lehmer, O. R., Catling, D. C., Buick, R., Brownlee, D. E., & Newport, S. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay4644 · Cited by 39

Archean banded iron formations of India

Mukhopadhyay, J. (2019) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102927 · Cited by 39

Sources of Nitrogen-, Sulfur-, and Phosphorus-Containing Feedstocks for Prebiotic Chemistry in the Planetary Environment

Todd, Z. R. (2022) · Life · doi:10.3390/life12081268 · Cited by 38

Pyrite in a sulfate-poor Paleoarchean basin was derived predominantly from elemental sulfur: Evidence from 3.2 Ga sediments in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, Kaapvaal Craton

Galić, A., Mason, P. R. D., Mogollón, J. M., Wolthers, M., Vroon, P. Z., & Whitehouse, M. J. (2016) · Chemical Geology · doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.12.006 · Cited by 33

Siderite cannot be used as CO2 sensor for Archaean atmospheres

Gäb, F., Ballhaus, C., Siemens, J., Heuser, A., Lissner, M., Geisler, T., & Garbe-Schönberg, D. (2017) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2017.07.027 · Cited by 28

Identifying global vs. basinal controls on Paleoproterozoic organic carbon and sulfur isotope records

Paiste, P., Lepland, A., Zerkle, A. L., Kirsimäe, K., Kreitsmann, T., Mänd, K., Romashkin, A. E., Рычанчик, Д. В., & Prave, A. R. (2020) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103230 · Cited by 26

Searching for the Great Oxidation Event in North America: A Reappraisal of the Huronian Supergroup by SIMS Sulfur Four-Isotope Analysis

Cui, H., Kitajima, K., Spicuzza, M. J., Fournelle, J., Ishida, A., Brown, P. E., & Valley, J. W. (2018) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2017.1722 · Cited by 22

Homogenising the upper continental crust: The Si isotope evolution of the crust recorded by ancient glacial diamictites

Murphy, M. E., Savage, P. S., Gardiner, N. J., Prave, A. R., Gaschnig, R. M., & Rudnick, R. L. (2022) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117620 · Cited by 18

Sulfur and mercury MIF suggest volcanic contributions to Earth’s atmosphere at 2.7 Ga

Zerkle, A. L., Claire, M. W., Rocco, T. D., Grassineau, N. V., Nisbet, E. G., Sun, R., & Yin, R. (2021) · Geochemical Perspectives Letters · doi:10.7185/geochemlet.2124 · Cited by 17

Textural and geochemical investigation of pyrite in Jacobina Basin, São Francisco Craton, Brazil: Implications for paleoenvironmental conditions and formation of pre-GOE metaconglomerate-hosted Au-(U) deposits

Teles, G. D. S., Chemale, F., Ávila, J. N., Ireland, T. R., Dias, A. N. C., Cruz, D. C. F., & Constantino, C. J. L. (2020) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2020.01.035 · Cited by 14

Iron Formations as Palaeoenvironmental Archives

Mänd, K., Robbins, L. J., Planavsky, N. J., Bekker, A., & Konhauser, K. O. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108993791 · Cited by 14

A small S-MIF signal in Martian regolith pyrite: Implications for the atmosphere

Tomkins, A. G., Alkemade, S. L., Nutku, S. E., Stephen, N. R., Finch, M. A., & Jeon, H. (2020) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2020.07.022 · Cited by 12

Trace metals in saline waters and brines from China: Implications for tectonic and climatic controls on basin-related mineralization

Zhang, C., Richard, A., Weilin, H., Liu, C., & Tang, Z. (2022) · Journal of Asian Earth Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105263 · Cited by 12

Sulfur outgassing and in-gassing in lunar orange glass beads and implications for 33S “Anomaly” in the Moon

Su, X., Zhang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2025) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2025.03.026 · Cited by 10

Mineralogy of the 1.45 Ga Wafangzi manganese deposit in North China: Implications for pulsed Mesoproterozoic oxygenation events

Yan, H., Xu, L., Mao, J., Tang, D., Yang, X., Bai, Y., Li, C., Konhauser, K. O., & Robbins, L. J. (2023) · American Mineralogist · doi:10.2138/am-2022-8919 · Cited by 7

Temporal distributions of aerosols over the Horn of Africa–Ethiopia using MODIS satellite data: Part 01

Alemu, A. A., & Raju, U. J. P. (2024) · Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer · doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2024.109085 · Cited by 6

The History, Relevance, and Applications of the Periodic System in Geochemistry

Vance, D., & Little, S. (2019) · Structure and Bonding (Berlin) · doi:10.1007/430_2019_44 · Cited by 2

Sources of Sulfur for Sulfide Mineralization in the Archean Rocks of the Sharyzhalgai Uplift of the Siberian Craton Basement (from Multi-Isotope Data)

Vysotskiy, S. V., Игнатьев, А. В., Levitskii, V. I., Velivetskaya, T. A., Асеева, А. В., Levitskiy, I. V., & Мехоношин, А. С. (2019) · Russian Geology and Geophysics · doi:10.15372/rgg2019062 · Cited by 5

Atmospheric and hydrothermal sulfur isotope signatures recorded in Neoarchean deep marine sedimentary pyrites from the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Chen, M., Campbell, I. H., Ávila, J. N., Tian, W., Hayman, P. C., Cas, R. A. F., & Ireland, T. R. (2022) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2022.01.002 · Cited by 3

Cascading oxygen loss shoreward in the oceans: Insights from the Cambrian SPICE event

Sørensen, A. L., & Dahl, T. W. (2024) · One Earth · doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2024.05.011 · Cited by 3

Mass-independent fractionation processes in the atmosphere

Hemingway, J., & Claire, M. W. (2024) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-99762-1.00084-x · Cited by 2

Correlation of aerosol particles with clouds and radiation budget over the horn of Africa–Ethiopia using MODIS satellite data: Part 02

Alemu, A. A., & Raju, U. J. P. (2024) · Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer · doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2024.109261 · Cited by 2

The Paleoproterozoic Otish and Mistassini basins of Quebec, Canada: A record of Superia supercraton breakup and the end of the Lomagundi-Jatuli carbon isotope excursion

Hodgskiss, M. S. W., Lechte, M. A., Rainbird, R. H., Whelan, M. A., Creaser, R. A., Davis, W. J., Slagstad, T., Mansur, E. T., Kirsimäe, K., Kovalick, A., et al. (2025) · Geological Society of America Bulletin · doi:10.1130/b37948.1 · Cited by 2

Effects of aerosol particles on precipitation and cloud parameters over East Africa-Ethiopia using MODIS satellite data: Part 01

Alemu, A. A., & Raju, U. J. P. (2024) · Ethiopian Journal of Science and Technology · doi:10.4314/ejst.v17i1.3 · Cited by 2

Were Neoarchean atmospheric methane hazes and early Paleoproterozoic glaciations driven by the rise of oxygen in surface environments?

Swain, A., Kaufman, A. J., Kalinowski, M., Yarwood, S. A., & Fagan, W. F. (2020) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118900 · Cited by 1

Analysis of Nitric Oxide and Nitrogen Dioxide Variability at a Central Mediterranean WMO/GAW Station

D’Amico, F., Feudo, T. L., Ammoscato, I., Benedetto, G. D., Sinopoli, S., Malacaria, L., Busetto, M., Putero, D., & Calidonna, C. R. (2025) · Nitrogen · doi:10.3390/nitrogen6030084 · Cited by 1

Nitrate Reduction

Zerkle, A. L. (2023) · Encyclopedia of Astrobiology · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-65093-6_5411 · Cited by 1

Nitrate Reduction

Zerkle, A. L. (2019) · Encyclopedia of Astrobiology · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5411-1

Light to life: Photochemical processes drove the cycling of bio-essential nutrients on the early Earth

Hao, J., Zhang, Z., Li, J., Mondal, J. A., Yu-ke, Z. H. U., Xing, L. I., Hao-tian, G. U. O., Cui, X., Guo, J., Ya-fang, S. O. N. G., et al. (2024) · Bulletin of Mineralogy Petrology and Geochemistry · doi:10.3724/j.issn.1007-2802.20240141 · Cited by 1

The hydrogen, methane and ammonia biosphere on early Earth

Ohmoto, H., & Ferry, J. G. (2026) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-026-43917-7

Chimie des océans au Paléoprotérozoïque

Thibon, F. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/b46ca998z0032z4822za964z77924518955c

Développement et application de la mesure des isotopes de l'europium pour étudier l'évolution de l'activité hydrothermale dans les océans

Nicol, L. (2024) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/987747e1zea54z4fdfzaa67z24c2791eb108

Reply to a Comment by D. R. Lowe on “Weathering of quartz as an Archean climatic indicator” by N. H. Sleep and A. M. Hessler

Hessler, A. M., & Sleep, N. H. (2006) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.11.005 · Cited by 4

Revisiting the greatness of Earth’s great oxidation

Crockford, P. W., Sugiyama, I., Kipp, M. A., Hao, J., Nelson, L. L., Hemingway, J., Wimmer, S., & Fakhraee, M. (2026) · Communications Earth & Environment · doi:10.1038/s43247-026-03518-8 · Cited by 4

The Continuing Puzzle of the Great Oxidation Event

Sessions, A. L., Doughty, D. M., Welander, P. V., Summons, R. E., & Newman, D. K. (2009) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.05.054 · Cited by 244

The Evolution of Atmospheric Composition: Why Earth is a Habitable Planet

Kasting, J. F. (2025) · Geochemical Perspectives · doi:10.7185/geochempersp.14.1 · Cited by 5

The Great Oxidation Event Transition

Catling, D. C. (2013) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-095975-7.01307-3 · Cited by 80