Geological sulfur isotopes indicate elevated OCS in the Archean atmosphere, solving faint young sun paradox
Open accessAbstract
Distributions of sulfur isotopes in geological samples would provide a record of atmospheric composition if the mechanism producing the isotope effects could be described quantitatively. We determined the UV absorption spectra of 32 SO 2 , 33 SO 2 , and 34 SO 2 and use them to interpret the geological record. The calculated isotopic fractionation factors for SO 2 photolysis give mass independent distributions that are highly sensitive to the atmospheric concentrations of O 2 , O 3 , CO 2 , H 2 O, CS 2 , NH 3 , N 2 O, H 2 S, OCS, and SO 2 itself. Various UV-shielding scenarios are considered and we conclude that the negative Δ 33 S observed in the Archean sulfate deposits can only be explained by OCS shielding. Of relevant Archean gases, OCS has the unique ability to prevent SO 2 photolysis by sunlight at λ >202 nm. Scenarios run using a photochemical box model show that ppm levels of OCS will accumulate in a CO-rich, reducing Archean atmosphere. The radiative forcing, due to this level of OCS, is able to resolve the faint young sun paradox. Further, the decline of atmospheric OCS may have caused the late Archean glaciation.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
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?
OCS has been suggested as an Archean greenhouse gas because UV photolysis of OCS was posited to explain observed relationships in S-MIF.
“Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) has been suggested as an Archean greenhouse gas because UV photolysis of OCS was posited to explain observed relationships in S-MIF (219).”
From The Archean atmosphere (2020) · cites this paper as [219]
Cites
Atmospheric Influence of Earth's Earliest Sulfur Cycle
Farquhar, J., Bao, H., & Thiemens, M. (2000) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.289.5480.756 · Cited by 1,805 · see citing works
Earth and Mars: evolution of atmospheres and surface temperatures
Sagan, C., & Mullen, G. (1972) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.177.4043.52 · Cited by 942 · see citing works
Pavlov, A. A., & Kasting, J. F. (2002) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/153110702753621321 · Cited by 912 · see citing works
Evidence from fluid inclusions for microbial methanogenesis in the early Archaean era
Ueno, Y., Yamada, K., Yoshida, N., Maruyama, S., & Isozaki, Y. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04584 · Cited by 572 · see citing works
Self-citationFarquhar, J., Savarino, J., Airieau, S., & Thiemens, M. H. (2001) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1029/2000je001437 · Cited by 518 · see citing works
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations before 2.2 billion years ago
Rye, R., Kuo, P. H., & Holland, H. D. (1995) · Nature · doi:10.1038/378603a0 · Cited by 431 · see citing works
The Early Faint Sun Paradox: Organic Shielding of Ultraviolet-Labile Greenhouse Gases
Sagan, C., & Chyba, C. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.276.5316.1217 · Cited by 396 · see citing works
Hulston, J. R., & Thode, H. G. (1965) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/jz070i014p03475 · Cited by 389 · see citing works
How Earth's atmosphere evolved to an oxic state: A status report
Catling, D. C., & Claire, M. W. (2005) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2005.06.013 · Cited by 376 · see citing works
Late Archean Biospheric Oxygenation and Atmospheric Evolution
Kaufman, A. J., Johnston, D. T., Farquhar, J., Masterson, A. L., Lyons, T. W., Bates, S., Anbar, A. D., Arnold, G. L., Garvin, J., & Buick, R. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1138700 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Ono, S., Eigenbrode, J. L., Pavlov, A. A., Kharecha, P., Rumble, D., Kasting, J. F., & Freeman, K. H. (2003) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(03)00295-4 · Cited by 363 · cited 4× · see citing works
“The predicted positive 33S of the sulfate is incompatible with the geological record suggesting Archean seawater sulfate would have had negative 33S values (1, 3, 7, 10).”
BackgroundInfluentialIsotopic evidence for Mesoarchaean anoxia and changing atmospheric sulphur chemistry
Farquhar, J. D., Peters, M., Johnston, D. T., Strauß, H., Masterson, A. L., Wiechert, U., & Kaufman, A. J. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06202 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
ZAHNLE, K., CLAIRE, M., & CATLING, D. (2006) · Geobiology · doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2006.00085.x · Cited by 315 · see citing works
Enhanced CO2 greenhouse to compensate for reduced solar luminosity on early Earth
Owen, T., CESS, R. D., & Ramanathan, V. (1979) · Nature · doi:10.1038/277640a0 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Precambrian paleosols and atmospheric CO2 levels
Sheldon, N. D. (2006) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2006.02.004 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
The contribution of explosive volcanism to global atmospheric sulphur dioxide concentrations
Bluth, G. J., Schnetzler, C. C., Krueger, A. J., & Walter, L. S. (1993) · Nature · doi:10.1038/366327a0 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
UV shielding of NH3and O2by organic hazes in the Archean atmosphere
Pavlov, A. A., Brown, L. L., & Kasting, J. F. (2001) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2000je001448 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Ueno, Y., Ono, S., Rumble, D., III, & Maruyama, S. (2008) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2008.08.026 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Self-citationSulphur isotope evidence for an oxic Archaean atmosphere
Ohmoto, H., Watanabe, Y., Ikemi, H., Poulson, S., & Taylor, B. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05044 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Organic haze, glaciations and multiple sulfur isotopes in the Mid-Archean Era
Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Kasting, J. F., Johnston, D. T., & Farquhar, J. (2008) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.01.040 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
UV induced mass‐independent sulfur isotope fractionation in stratospheric volcanic sulfate
Savarino, J., Romero, A., Cole‐Dai, J., Bekki, S., & Thiemens, M. H. (2003) · Geophysical Research Letters · doi:10.1029/2003gl018134 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Young, G. M., Brunn, V. V., Gold, D. J. C., & Minter, W. E. L. (1998) · The Journal of Geology · doi:10.1086/516039 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Chemical kinetic model for the lower atmosphere of Venus
Krasnopolsky, V. A. (2007) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2007.04.028 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Stability of ammonia in the primitive terrestrial atmosphere
Kasting, J. F. (1982) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans · doi:10.1029/jc087ic04p03091 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Danielache, S. O., Eskebjerg, C., Johnson, M. S., Ueno, Y., & Yoshida, N. (2008) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2007jd009695 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Self-citationOno, S. (2006) · South African Journal of Geology · doi:10.2113/gssajg.109.1-2.97 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Mass‐independent fractionation of sulfur isotopes by isotope‐selective photodissociation of SO2
Lyons, J. R. (2007) · Geophysical Research Letters · doi:10.1029/2007gl031031 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Bao, H., Rumble, D., III, & Lowe, D. R. (2007) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2007.05.032 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Evidence for carbonyl sulfide (OCS) conversion to CO in the lower atmosphere of Venus
Yung, Y. L., Liang, M., Jiang, X., Shia, R., Lee, C., Bézard, B., & Marcq, E. (2009) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2008je003094 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Assessing the Massive Young Sun Hypothesis to Solve the Warm Young Earth Puzzle
Minton, D. A., & Malhotra, R. (2007) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/514331 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
SORCE solar UV irradiance results
Rottman, G. J., Woods, T. N., & McClintock, W. E. (2005) · Advances in Space Research · doi:10.1016/j.asr.2005.02.072 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Okazaki, A., Ebata, T., & Mikami, N. (1997) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/1.475168 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Theoretical studies of C∼1B2 absorption spectra of SO2 isotopomers
Ran, H., Xie, D., & Guo, H. (2007) · Chemical Physics Letters · doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2007.03.103 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Pavlov, A. A., Mills, M. J., & Toon, O. B. (2005) · Geophysical Research Letters · doi:10.1029/2005gl022784 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
von Hessberg, P., Kaiser, J., Enghoff, M. B., et al. (2004) · Atmospheric chemistry and physics · doi:10.5194/acp-4-1237-2004 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Carbonyl sulfide isotopologues: Ultraviolet absorption cross sections and stratospheric photolysis
Danielache, S. O., Nanbu, S., Eskebjerg, C., et al. (2009) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/1.3156314 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationHCl and DCl: A case study of different approaches for determining photo fractionation constants
Grage, M. M.-L., Nyman, G., & Johnson, M. S. (2006) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/b607163e · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Catling, D. C., & Zahnle, K. J. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax1420 · Cited by 568 · see citing works
Multiple sulfur isotopes and the evolution of Earth's surface sulfur cycle
Johnston, D. T. (2011) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.02.003 · Cited by 383 · see citing works
Feulner, G. (2012) · Reviews of Geophysics · doi:10.1029/2011rg000375 · Cited by 338 · see citing works
Cyanobacteria and the Great Oxidation Event: evidence from genes and fossils
Schirrmeister, B. E., Gugger, M., & Donoghue, P. C. J. (2015) · Palaeontology · doi:10.1111/pala.12178 · Cited by 304 · see citing works
Processes on the young earth and the habitats of early life
Arndt, N. T., & Nisbet, E. G. (2012) · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences · doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105316 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
A bistable organic-rich atmosphere on the Neoarchaean Earth
Zerkle, A. L., Claire, M. W., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Farquhar, J., & Poulton, S. W. (2012) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo1425 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Geological constraints on the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis
Farquhar, J., Zerkle, A. L., & Bekker, A. (2011) · Photosynthesis Research · doi:10.1007/s11120-010-9594-0 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Hospitable Archean Climates Simulated by a General Circulation Model
Wolf, E. T., & Toon, O. B. (2013) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2012.0936 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Frontiers of stable isotope geoscience
Eiler, J. M., Bergquist, B., Bourg, I., Cartigny, P., Farquhar, J., Gagnon, A., Guo, W., Halevy, I., Hofmann, A., Larson, T. E., et al. (2014) · Chemical Geology · doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.02.006 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Modeling the signature of sulfur mass-independent fractionation produced in the Archean atmosphere
Claire, M. W., Kasting, J. F., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Stüeken, E. E., Buick, R., & Meadows, V. S. (2014) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2014.06.032 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Ono, S., Whitehill, A. R., & Lyons, J. R. (2013) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1002/jgrd.50183 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Multiple oscillations in Neoarchaean atmospheric chemistry
Izon, G., Zerkle, A. L., Zhelezinskaia, I., Farquhar, J., Newton, R. J., Poulton, S. W., Eigenbrode, J. L., & Claire, M. W. (2015) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.09.018 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
False Negatives for Remote Life Detection on Ocean-Bearing Planets: Lessons from the Early Earth
Reinhard, C. T., Olson, S. L., Schwieterman, E. W., & Lyons, T. W. (2017) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2016.1598 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Atmospheric sulfur rearrangement 2.7 billion years ago: Evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis
Kurzweil, F., Claire, M., Thomazo, C., Peters, M., Hannington, M., & Strauss, H. (2013) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.01.028 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Halevy, I. (2013) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1213148110 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Whitehill, A. R., & Ono, S. (2012) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2012.06.014 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Clouds and the Faint Young Sun Paradox
Goldblatt, C., & Zahnle, K. J. (2011) · Climate of the Past · doi:10.5194/cp-7-203-2011 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Effects of primitive photosynthesis on Earth’s early climate system
Ozaki, K., Tajika, E., Hong, P. K., Nakagawa, Y., & Reinhard, C. T. (2018) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/s41561-017-0031-2 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Oxidative sulfide dissolution on the early Earth
Reinhard, C. T., Lalonde, S. V., & Lyons, T. W. (2013) · Chemical Geology · doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2013.10.006 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Geologic and Geochemical Constraints on Earth's Early Atmosphere
Farquhar, J., Zerkle, A. L., & Bekker, A. (2014) · Treatise on Geochemistry · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-095975-7.01304-8 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Thomazo, C., Nisbet, E. G., Grassineau, N. V., Peters, M., & Strauss, H. (2013) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2013.06.036 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ueno, Y., Johnson, M. S., Danielache, S. O., Eskebjerg, C., Pandey, A., & Yoshida, N.
- Affiliations
- Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2009-09
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 35
- Pages
- 14784-14789
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC2736450
- OpenAlex
- W2119121399
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 7.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Tokyo Tech Research Repository (Tokyo Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19740310)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Keywords
- sulfur isotopes, Archean atmosphere, faint young Sun paradox, carbonyl sulfide, OCS, UV absorption spectra, isotope fractionation, UV protection, photochemical box model, radiative forcing
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review