The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Tracing the stepwise oxygenation of the Proterozoic ocean
Open accessAbstract
Biogeochemical signatures preserved in ancient sedimentary rocks provide clues to the nature and timing of the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere. Geochemical data suggest that oxygenation proceeded in two broad steps near the beginning and end of the Proterozoic eon (2,500 to 542 million years ago). The oxidation state of the Proterozoic ocean between these two steps and the timing of deep-ocean oxygenation have important implications for the evolutionary course of life on Earth but remain poorly known. Here we present a new perspective on ocean oxygenation based on the authigenic accumulation of the redox-sensitive transition element molybdenum in sulphidic black shales. Accumulation of authigenic molybdenum from sea water is already seen in shales by 2,650 Myr ago; however, the small magnitudes of these enrichments reflect weak or transient sources of dissolved molybdenum before about 2,200 Myr ago, consistent with minimal oxidative weathering of the continents. Enrichments indicative of persistent and vigorous oxidative weathering appear in shales deposited at roughly 2,150 Myr ago, more than 200 million years after the initial rise in atmospheric oxygen. Subsequent expansion of sulphidic conditions after about 1,800 Myr ago (refs 8, 9) maintained a mid-Proterozoic molybdenum reservoir below 20 per cent of the modern inventory, which in turn may have acted as a nutrient feedback limiting the spatiotemporal distribution of euxinic (sulphidic) bottom waters and perhaps the evolutionary and ecological expansion of eukaryotic organisms. By 551 Myr ago, molybdenum contents reflect a greatly expanded oceanic reservoir due to oxygenation of the deep ocean and corresponding decrease in sulphidic conditions in the sediments and water column.
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In the citing paper
“Furthermore, Archean marine sediments have low concentrations of elements that enter rivers during oxidative continental weathering (68–70).”
From The Archean atmosphere (2020) · cites this paper as [68]
In the citing paper
“Low concentrations of redox sensitive elements (e.g., Mo and V) and their low ratios with TOC of marine black shales have been observed throughout Earth history before the Ediacaran, and interpreted as the result of low oxygen concentration in ocean and atmosphere33,34.”
From Subtle Cr isotope signals track the variably anoxic Cryogenian interglacial period with voluminous manganese accumulation and decrease in biodiversity (2019) · cites this paper as [33]
In the citing paper
“The uranium isotope record indicates that the modeled oxygenation state of the early Cambrian oceans was neither steady nor monotonous (7–9, 47, 48), but rather oscillated dramatically in concert with changes to the global marine carbon cycle as indicated by the δ13C curve.”
From Atmosphere-ocean oxygen and productivity dynamics during early animal radiations (2019) · cites this paper as [47]
In the citing paper
“Based on the collective data for the boring billion (Arnold et al., 2004; Scott et al., 2008; Planavsky et al., 2011; Poulton and Canfield, 2011; Partin et al., 2013; Reinhard et al., 2013; as reviewed in Lyons et al., 2014), Fe-rich (ferruginous) waters must have dominated the deeper ocean.”
From Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“Muted metal enrichments in euxinic shales support the possibility of low marine molybdenum (Mo) inventories during the boring billion due to high rates of sediment uptake within the anoxic and euxinic oceans (Scott et al., 2008)”
From Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“The contrasting behaviors of molybdenum, chromium, uranium, and rhenium in organic-rich marginal sedimentary rocks deposited throughout the mid-Proterozoic qualitatively indicate widespread marine anoxia (Partin et al. 2013, Reinhard et al. 2013, Scott et al. 2008, Sheen et al. 2018)”
From The History of Ocean Oxygenation (2022) · cites this paper as Scott et al. 2008
In the citing paper
“All available data that constrain the marine landscape in the midProterozoic ocean are consistent with only locally developed euxinic conditions along productive continental margins (e.g., in oxygen-minimum zones) or within intracratonic basins”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“The emerging picture from black shales indicates that Precambrian seawater reservoirs of redox-sensitive elements were nowhere close to those of the Phanerozoic (e.g., Scott et al., 2008; Partin et al., 2013b; Reinhard et al., 2013).”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“Following increasing oxygenation in late Neoproterozoic (Canfield et al., 2007;Scott et al., 2008;Sahoo et al., 2012;Lyons et al., 2014a, Planavsky et al., 2014a;Sahoo et al., 2016), these sulfide complexes would have become less abundant, resulting in greater availability of Cd, Cu, and Zn.”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“the marine metal reservoir exerts a first order control on enrichments in euxinic and anoxic sediments (Algeo and Lyons, 2006;Lyons et al., 2009;Scott et al., 2008;Reinhard et al., 2013b).”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Scott et al., 2008
Citations
Cites
The geochemical evolution of the continental crust
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Self-citationArchean Molecular Fossils and the Early Rise of Eukaryotes
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A new model for Proterozoic ocean chemistry
Canfield, D. E. (1998) · Nature · doi:10.1038/24839 · Cited by 1,243
Algeo, T. J., & Lyons, T. W. (2006) · Paleoceanography · doi:10.1029/2004pa001112 · Cited by 1,194
Self-citationProterozoic Ocean Chemistry and Evolution: A Bioinorganic Bridge?
Anbar, A. D., & Knoll, A. H. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1069651 · Cited by 1,191
Self-citationA Whiff of Oxygen Before the Great Oxidation Event?
Anbar, A. D., Duan, Y., Lyons, T. W., Arnold, G. L., Kendall, B., Creaser, R. A., Kaufman, A. J., Gordon, G. W., Scott, C., Garvin, J., et al. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1140325 · Cited by 1,024
Self-citationLate-Neoproterozoic Deep-Ocean Oxygenation and the Rise of Animal Life
Canfield, D. E., Poulton, S. W., & Narbonne, G. M. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1135013 · Cited by 1,000
Self-citation
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The rise of oxygen in Earth's early ocean and atmosphere
Lyons, T. W., Reinhard, C. T., & Planavsky, N. J. (2014) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature13068 · Cited by 2,810
Self-citationThe 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
Erwin, D. H., Laflamme, M., Tweedt, S. M., Sperling, E. A., Pisani, D., & Peterson, K. J. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1206375 · Cited by 1,336
Ferruginous conditions: a dominant feature of the ocean through Earth's history
Poulton, S. W., & Canfield, D. E. (2011) · Elements · doi:10.2113/gselements.7.2.107 · Cited by 1,018
“However, Scott et al. (2008) suggested that euxinic conditions were increasingly difficult to maintain through this period as a result of a nutrient-limiting feedback associated with molybdenum removal under euxinic conditions, while Canfield (2004) suggested that the temporal extent of such…”
BackgroundSelf-citationBekker, A., Slack, J. F., Planavsky, N., Krapez, B., Hofmann, A., Konhauser, K. O., & Rouxel, O. J. (2010) · Economic Geology · doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.105.3.467 · Cited by 1,013
“Both the V and Mo dissolved loads were generally low or negligible in the early oceans because under an essentially anoxic atmosphere these metals are insoluble (Scott et al., 2008).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Scott, C., Lyons, T. W., Bekker, A., Shen, Y., Poulton, S. W., Chu, X., & Anbar, A. D.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- Université du Québec à Montréal (CA)
- Newcastle University (GB)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Scott, C.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2008-03
- Volume
- 452
- Issue
- 7186
- Pages
- 456-459
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2041762395
- Cited by
- 1,098
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 37 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 83 · 2019: 74 · 2018: 81 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 53 · 2015: 71 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 55 · 2012: 56
- FWCI
- 37.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
- NASA Astrobiology Institute
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/C518465/2)
- 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 › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- molybdenum, black shales, oxidative weathering, total organic carbon, ocean redox state, atmospheric oxygenation, Neoproterozoic, Precambrian, sulfur cycling, early animal evolution, Precambrian stratigraphy
- MeSH terms
- Atmosphere, Molybdenum, Oceans and Seas, Oxygen, Seawater, Sulfides, Time Factors, Geologic Sediments, History, Ancient
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