The rise of oxygen and siderite oxidation during the Lomagundi Event
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Significance: The evolution of Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere occurred in two major steps, the first of which took place approximately 2.4 billion years ago. Following the initial rise of oxygen, carbon isotope evidence indicates the burial of vast quantities of organic carbon and the production of correspondingly large amounts of oxygen. However, if not accompanied by an additional supply of carbon, the extreme levels of organic carbon burial imply nonphysically low atmospheric p CO 2 levels. Here we propose that the initial rise in O 2 led to the oxidation of a large preexisting reservoir of siderite (FeCO 3 ), which provided the necessary carbon for the burial of organic matter, production of further O 2 , and substantial accumulation of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere for the first time.
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The Lomagundi event (∼2.22-2.06 Ga) can be explained by redox exchanges with sedimentary sulfur and iron reservoirs, shifting electrons from sedimentary sulfide and siderite to reduced organic carbon and back again on the sedimentary recycling timescale.
“This can be explained by redox exchanges with sedimentary sulfur and iron reservoirs, shifting electrons from sedimentary sulfide and siderite to reduced organic carbon (and back again) on the sedimentary recycling timescale660.”
From Atmospheric oxygen regulation at low Proterozoic levels by incomplete oxidative weathering of sedimentary organic carbon (2017) · cites this paper as [60]
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- Authors
- Bachan, A., & Kump, L. R.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- ORCID
- Kump, Lee R.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2015-05-11
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 6562-6567
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4450422
- OpenAlex
- W1554646649
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 5.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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 › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
- Keywords
- sulfide oxidation, Paleoproterozoic, organic carbon burial, carbon isotope enrichment, oxidative weathering, early atmospheric oxygenation, carbonate weathering
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