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Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations before 2.2 billion years ago
Abstract
The composition of the Earth's early atmosphere is a subject of continuing debate. In particular, it has been suggested that elevated concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide would have been necessary to maintain normal surface temperatures in the face of lower solar luminosity in early Earth history. Fossil weathering profiles, known as palaeosols, have provided semi-quantitative constraints on atmospheric oxygen partial pressure (pO2) before 2.2 Gyr ago. Here we use the same well studied palaeosols to constrain atmospheric pCO2 between 2.75 and 2.2 Gyr ago. The observation that iron lost from the tops of these profiles was reprecipitated lower down as iron silicate minerals, rather than as iron carbonate, indicates that atmospheric pCO2 must have been less than 10(-1.4) atm--about 100 times today's level of 360 p.p.m., and at least five times lower than that required in one-dimensional climate models to compensate for lower solar luminosity at 2.75 Gyr. Our results suggest that either the Earth's early climate was much more sensitive to increases in pCO2 than has been thought, or that one or more greenhouse gases other than CO2 contributed significantly to the atmosphere's radiative balance during the late Archaean and early Proterozoic eons.
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“Geochemical measurements extend back to the late Archean and suggest that the CO 2 partial pressure (pCO 2 ) was likely significantly higher than in the modern atmosphere (Rye et al. 1995; Hessler et al. 2004; Sheldon 2006; Driese et al. 2011; Kanzaki and Murakami 2015) though significant uncertainty exists and no measurements for the early Archean or the Hadean are available”
From The young Sun's XUV-activity as a constraint for lower CO2-limits in the Earth's Archean atmosphere (2021) · cites this paper as Rye et al. 1995
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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Carbon dioxide cycling and implications for climate on ancient Earth
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Catling, D. C., & Zahnle, K. J. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax1420 · Cited by 568
Metadata
- Authors
- Rye, R., Kuo, P. H., & Holland, H. D.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1995-12
- Volume
- 378
- Issue
- 6557
- Pages
- 603-605
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2070887411
- Cited by
- 431
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 13.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- atmospheric CO2, early Earth atmosphere, paleosols, iron silicate minerals, iron carbonate, greenhouse effect, Late Archean, Early Proterozoic, paleoclimate
- MeSH terms
- Atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Ferrous Compounds, Fossils, Paleontology, Temperature, Water, Silicates, Greenhouse Effect, Earth, Planet, Geologic Sediments, Evolution, Planetary
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