Oceanic nickel depletion and a methanogen famine before the Great Oxidation Event
Abstract
It has been suggested that a decrease in atmospheric methane levels triggered the progressive rise of atmospheric oxygen, the so-called Great Oxidation Event, about 2.4 Gyr ago. Oxidative weathering of terrestrial sulphides, increased oceanic sulphate, and the ecological success of sulphate-reducing microorganisms over methanogens has been proposed as a possible cause for the methane collapse, but this explanation is difficult to reconcile with the rock record. Banded iron formations preserve a history of Precambrian oceanic elemental abundance and can provide insights into our understanding of early microbial life and its influence on the evolution of the Earth system. Here we report a decline in the molar nickel to iron ratio recorded in banded iron formations about 2.7 Gyr ago, which we attribute to a reduced flux of nickel to the oceans, a consequence of cooling upper-mantle temperatures and decreased eruption of nickel-rich ultramafic rocks at the time. We measured nickel partition coefficients between simulated Precambrian sea water and diverse iron hydroxides, and subsequently determined that dissolved nickel concentrations may have reached approximately 400 nM throughout much of the Archaean eon, but dropped below approximately 200 nM by 2.5 Gyr ago and to modern day values ( approximately 9 nM) by approximately 550 Myr ago. Nickel is a key metal cofactor in several enzymes of methanogens and we propose that its decline would have stifled their activity in the ancient oceans and disrupted the supply of biogenic methane. A decline in biogenic methane production therefore could have occurred before increasing environmental oxygenation and not necessarily be related to it. The enzymatic reliance of methanogens on a diminishing supply of volcanic nickel links mantle evolution to the redox state of the atmosphere.
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A compilation of Ni contents in iron formations through time revealed a unidirectional and rapid decrease in Ni just prior to the Great Oxidation Event.
“However, a compilation of Ni contents in IF through time (Konhauser et al., 2009) revealed a unidirectional and rapid decrease in Ni just prior to the GOE”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Konhauser et al., 2009
The Ni decline was attributed to mantle cooling and decreasing frequency of Ni-rich ultramafic eruptions, which limited Ni-source rocks susceptible to weathering and perhaps impacted atmospheric oxygenation through effects on biological carbon cycling.
“This decline was attributed to mantle cooling and, with that, the decreasing frequency of Ni-rich ultramafic eruptions.This subsequently limited the amount of Ni-source rocks susceptible to weathering, and perhaps even impacted atmospheric oxygenation by its effect on biological carbon cycling”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Konhauser et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Konhauser, K. O., Pecoits, E., Lalonde, S. V., Papineau, D., Nisbet, E. G., Barley, M. E., Arndt, N. T., Zahnle, K., & Kamber, B. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- Royal Holloway University of London (GB)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Université Joseph Fourier (FR)
- Ames Research Center (US)
- Laurentian University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Konhauser, Kurt O.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2009-04
- Volume
- 458
- Issue
- 7239
- Pages
- 750-753
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2053767451
- Cited by
- 515
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 36
- FWCI
- 26.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- 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
- Great Oxidation Event, banded iron formations, methanogenic archaea, nickel cofactor, upper mantle temperature, iron hydroxide
- MeSH terms
- Atmosphere, Iron, Nickel, Oceans and Seas, Oxidation-Reduction, Seawater, Geologic Sediments, Euryarchaeota
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