Nitrogen in Ancient Mud: A Biosignature?
Abstract
Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for all life on Earth and possibly elsewhere. Burial of nitrogen bound to organic matter constitutes the major flux of nitrogen into sediments today, which has led to the inference that nitrogen enrichments in sedimentary rocks may be a biosignature. However, abiotic processes such as lightning or volcanism can fix atmospheric N 2 and contribute to sedimentary nitrogen burial in the absence of life. It is therefore uncertain whether observed nitrogen enrichments of up to 430 ppm in Paleoarchean metasedimentary biotite grains are indeed biogenic. This study seeks to address that problem with a numerical model. The NH 4 + concentration of an abiotic ocean is modeled as a function of source fluxes, pH-dependent NH 3 volatilization, and equilibrated adsorption of NH 4 + onto clay particles. The results suggest that the observed nitrogen concentrations in Paleoarchean biotite can only be reconciled with purely abiotic processes if the ocean was more acidic (pH <6) and/or if the source fluxes from lightning and volcanism were at least an order of magnitude higher (≥10 12 mol/yr) than previously thought. The bulk of the nitrogen is thus most likely of biological origin. While this does not necessitate a particular metabolism such as biological N 2 fixation, the data provide evidence of nitrogen utilization back to 3.8 Gyr. Nitrogen abundances could thus provide useful information in extraterrestrial missions. Key Words: Early Earth—Biosignatures—Nitrogen fixation. Astrobiology 16, 730–735.
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The ammonium in 3.8 Ga marine phyllosilicates probably came from porewater NH4+ derived from degraded organics.
“Marine phyllosilicates at 3.8 Ga ago are ammonium enriched (146, 147), which probably came from porewater ammonium (NH4+) derived from degraded organics (Table 1) (148, 149), and these data have been used to argue that Archean N2 was sequestered into solid phases after an early advent of biological nitrogen fixation (56, 150).”
From The Archean atmosphere (2020) · cites this paper as [148]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Stüeken, E. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stüeken, Eva E.
- ORCID
- Stüeken, Eva E.
- Venue
- Astrobiology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 730-735
- ISSN
- 1531-1074 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-8070
- OpenAlex
- W2509508878
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 2.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Astrobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Keywords
- seawater pH, ammonia volatilization, early Earth ocean chemistry
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Adsorption, Models, Theoretical, Nitrogen, Time Factors, Geologic Sediments, Ammonium Compounds
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