Onset of the aerobic nitrogen cycle during the Great Oxidation Event
Abstract
The rise of oxygen on the early Earth (about 2.4 billion years ago) caused a reorganization of marine nutrient cycles, including that of nitrogen, which is important for controlling global primary productivity. However, current geochemical records lack the temporal resolution to address the nature and timing of the biogeochemical response to oxygenation directly. Here we couple records of ocean redox chemistry with nitrogen isotope (15 N/14 N) values from approximately 2.31-billion-year-old shales of the Rooihoogte and Timeball Hill formations in South Africa, deposited during the early stages of the first rise in atmospheric oxygen on the Earth (the Great Oxidation Event). Our data fill a gap of about 400 million years in the temporal 15 N/14 N record and provide evidence for the emergence of a pervasive aerobic marine nitrogen cycle. The interpretation of our nitrogen isotope data in the context of iron speciation and carbon isotope data suggests biogeochemical cycling across a dynamic redox boundary, with primary productivity fuelled by chemoautotrophic production and a nitrogen cycle dominated by nitrogen loss processes using newly available marine oxidants. This chemostratigraphic trend constrains the onset of widespread nitrate availability associated with ocean oxygenation. The rise of marine nitrate could have allowed for the rapid diversification and proliferation of nitrate-using cyanobacteria and, potentially, eukaryotic phytoplankton.
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Spatial variation of δ15N values appears inconsistent with widespread N cycling in the late-Neoproterozoic ocean.
“Spatial variation of δ15N values appears inconsistent with widespread N cycling in late-Neoproterozoic ocean25, 26.”
From Heterogenous oceanic redox conditions through the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary limited the metazoan zonation (2017) · cites this paper as [25]
Stable nitrogen isotope data indicate the onset of a pervasive aerobic nitrogen cycle in the surface ocean during this interval.
“Stable nitrogen isotope data indicate the onset of a pervasive aerobic nitrogen cycle in the surface ocean during this interval (Luo et al. 2018, Zerkle et al. 2017), but it is not straightforward to tie this quantitatively to an atmospheric O 2 value or global ocean oxygenation landscape.”
From The History of Ocean Oxygenation (2022) · cites this paper as Zerkle et al. 2017
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A 200-million-year delay in permanent atmospheric oxygenation
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- Authors
- Zerkle, A. L., Poulton, S. W., Newton, R. J., Mettam, C., Claire, M. W., Bekker, A., & Junium, C. K.
- Affiliations
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Syracuse University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zerkle, Aubrey L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2017-02
- Volume
- 542
- Issue
- 7642
- Pages
- 465-467
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2581333542
- Cited by
- 151
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 10
- FWCI
- 12.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- St Andrews Research Repository (St Andrews Research Repository) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/H016805/2, NE/H016805/1)
- 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 › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- Great Oxidation Event, nitrogen isotopes, atmospheric oxygenation, chemostratigraphy, iron speciation, cyanobacteria, early Earth
- MeSH terms
- Aerobiosis, Cyanobacteria, Carbon Isotopes, Iron, Nitrates, Nitrogen, Nitrogen Isotopes, Oceans and Seas, Oxidation-Reduction, Oxygen, Phytoplankton, Seawater, South Africa, Time Factors, Geologic Sediments, History, Ancient, Nitrogen Cycle, Aquatic Organisms
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