Cited by 228Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsGeochemistry and Elemental AnalysisOrigins and Evolution of Life

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 346 of the 361 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 376 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution

Open access

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This review synthesizes geochemical modeling, genomic, culture, and sedimentary proxy evidence for how marine trace-element availability and redox evolution intersected with biological evolution. It finds that some trace-metal histories (e.g., Ni decline, Mo drawdown) align with biological innovation, while others (notably Zn) contradict earlier models of severe Proterozoic limitation.

Key findings

  • Ni concentrations in iron formations declined from close to 400 nM to less than 200 nM between 2.7 and 2.5 Ga, attributed to mantle cooling and reduced Ni-rich ultramafic eruptions; the sedimentary pyrite record mirrors this first-order trend.
  • Mo records from black shales and pyrite show stepwise increases, with the Proterozoic marine Mo reservoir estimated at only 10–20% of the modern ocean—close to the ~5% of modern seawater considered biolimiting for nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria.
  • Zn records from black shales and iron formations suggest a relatively constant marine Zn reservoir since the Archean, on the order of 10 nM and several orders of magnitude above the ~10⁻¹³ M biolimiting threshold, contradicting models that linked eukaryotic diversification to increased Zn availability.
  • Co/Ti ratios in iron formations, euxinic shales, and pyrite indicate an expanded paleomarine Co reservoir between 2.8 and 1.8 Ga with a peak at ~2.4 Ga; Cr enrichments peak at 2.48–2.32 Ga, and U increases at 2.47–2.43 Ga.

Methods

  • Review and synthesis of previously published geochemical, genomic, culture, and sedimentary-proxy studies; no new primary data are presented.
  • Integrates thermodynamic and biological modeling, culture experiments and modern environmental observations, phylogenomic/metalloenzyme analyses, and sedimentary records including iron formations, black shales, sedimentary pyrite, carbonates, and chert.
  • Main analysis compares temporal trends in trace-element proxies against modeled paleoseawater concentrations and inferred redox conditions to assess links with biological evolution.

Limitations

  • Stated: geochemical models rely on thermodynamic mineral solubility, often assume a homogeneous ocean, and can be limited by kinetic controls; modern trace-element abundances vary laterally and with depth.
  • Stated: proxy archives have limitations—iron formations may experience post-depositional trace-element mobility and lack direct modern analogues; black shales can undergo diagenetic remobilization; carbonates are susceptible to diagenetic alteration; Mo isotopes require persistent sulfide (>11 µmol L⁻¹ H₂S(aq)) to record seawater signatures.
  • Evident: as a review, conclusions depend on published datasets and first-order trends, and several bioessential elements (e.g., Cu, V, Cd, W) lack extensive billion-year proxy records.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.10.013

Cites

346 of 346 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 376 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 194 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 124
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 85
177 of 177
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Precambrian seawater had elevated silica concentrations.

    “in light of assumed elevated Precambrian silica concentrations”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The sedimentary proxy records used (IF, black shales, pyrite) reliably preserve paleomarine trace element concentrations without substantial diagenetic or later burial overprint.

    “There has been significant progress made in recent years in the examination of sedimentary proxy records (black shales, IF, pyrite) for the paleomarine availability of biologically critical trace elements”
    “other sedimentary rock types that might serve as proxies for ancient ocean trace element concentrations-chert and carbonates-demand further study, including potential overprints during diagenesis and later burial.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The biological functions and trace-metal requirements of modern organisms can be extrapolated to ancient organisms and ecosystems.

    “When viewed through a genomic lens in terms of metalloenzyme evolution and diversification, the constraints imposed by geochemical modeling and the paleomarine proxy record should significantly improve our understanding of the links between evolving marine geochemistry, Earth surface redox conditions, and early biological evolution (Fig. 12).”
3 of 3

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Different ages given for the same nitrogen-isotope evidence

    Minor

    The paper describes the nitrogen-isotope evidence from Stüeken et al. (2015a) as coming from approximately 3.0 Ga sedimentary units, but later dates the sedimentary rocks in that study to 3.2 Ga.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

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Show all 361 references

15 of the 361 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Satkoski, 2015, A redox-stratified ocean 3.2billion years ago. Earth planet, Sci. Lett., 430, 43
  2. Trendall, 1970, The iron formations of the Precambrian Hamersley Group, Western Australia with special reference to the associated crocidolite, Geol. Soc. W. Aust. Bull., 119, 1

Cited by

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Items 101–200 of 228

Metadata

Authors
Robbins, L. J., Lalonde, S. V., Planavsky, N. J., Partin, C. A., Reinhard, C. T., Kendall, B., Scott, C., Hardisty, D. S., Gill, B. C., Alessi, D. S., Dupont, C. L., Saito, M. A., Crowe, S. A., Poulton, S. W., Bekker, A., Lyons, T. W., & Konhauser, K. O.
Affiliations
  • University of Alberta (CA)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Yale University (US)
  • University of Saskatchewan (CA)
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
  • University of Waterloo (CA)
  • United States Geological Survey (US)
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
  • Virginia Tech (US)
  • J. Craig Venter Institute (US)
  • University of British Columbia (CA)
  • University of Leeds (GB)
  • University of California, Riverside (US)
Corresponding author
Robbins, Leslie J.
Venue
Earth-Science Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-12
Volume
163
Pages
323-348
ISSN
0012-8252 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2548586674
Cited by
227
References
361
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 8
FWCI
11.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Earth-Science Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Open Access Server of the Woods Hole Scientific Community (Woods Hole Scientific Community) (submittedVersion)
  • UWSpace (University of Waterloo) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NNA15BB03A)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
Keywords
trace elements, Precambrian oceans, seawater composition, redox-sensitive elements, metalloenzymes, cyanobacteria, atmospheric oxygenation, trace element proxies, sedimentary rock, nickel, molybdenum, zinc, cobalt, selenium, iodine, phosphorus, redox conditions

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