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Isotopic Evidence for an Aerobic Nitrogen Cycle in the Latest Archean
Abstract
The nitrogen cycle provides essential nutrients to the biosphere, but its antiquity in modern form is unclear. In a drill core though homogeneous organic-rich shale in the 2.5-billion-year-old Mount McRae Shale, Australia, nitrogen isotope values vary from +1.0 to +7.5 per mil (per thousand) and back to +2.5 per thousand over approximately 30 meters. These changes evidently record a transient departure from a largely anaerobic to an aerobic nitrogen cycle complete with nitrification and denitrification. Complementary molybdenum abundance and sulfur isotopic values suggest that nitrification occurred in response to a small increase in surface-ocean oxygenation. These data imply that nitrifying and denitrifying microbes had already evolved by the late Archean and were present before oxygen first began to accumulate in the atmosphere.
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“The whiff is recorded by spikes in Mo and Re concentrations, elevated nitrogen isotope values, and iron speciation data (Anbar et al., 2007; Reinhard et al., 2009; Garvin et al., 2009);”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Garvin et al., 2009
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“…nitrogen fixation, nitrification and denitrification (including chemodenitrification) had probably evolved by the late Archaean or early Proterozoic 8,9,30,31 , although it is thought that up to 10 13 grams of NO per year could have been produced by atmospheric photochemical reactions as far back…”
Wang, Z., Cao, H., Chen, F., Wei, K., Bao, C., Hou, Q., Chen, C., Huang, H., & Chen, Q. (2025) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.112903 · Cited by 4
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“198 The Fe(II) concentrations used in this study are high compared to modern environments and 199 are at the very upper end of estimates for Archean (Thompson et al., 2019) and Proterozoic 200 ferruginous oceans (Derry, 2015; Stanton et al., 2018), although in reality seawater Fe(II) 201 concentrations at the time of…”
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“This process occurred strictly in the OMZ or anoxic bottom waters and resulted in the average δ 15N (∼+5‰) being consistent with the modern ocean nitrate pool (Garvin et al., 2009; Junium et al., 2018).”
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Yao, F., Zhu, B., & Du, E. (2013) · Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1258.2012.00346 · Cited by 2
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“…geological records of the transient oxygenation of the ocean‐atmosphere system (Anbar et al., 2007; Crowe et al., 2013; Czaja et al., 2012; Garvin et al., 2009; Koehler et al., 2018; Ossa Ossa et al., 2016, 2018; Planavsky et al., 2014; Stüeken, Buick, Bekker, et al., 2015) and…”
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Uveges, B. T. I., Izon, G., Junium, C. K., Ono, S., & Summons, R. E. (2025) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2423481122 · Cited by 2
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Boden, J. S., Ostrander, C. M., & Stüeken, E. E. (2025) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/s41561-025-01867-1 · Cited by 1
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Metadata
- Authors
- Garvin, J., Buick, R., Anbar, A. D., Arnold, G. L., & Kaufman, A. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Buick, Roger
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2009-02-20
- Volume
- 323
- Issue
- 5917
- Pages
- 1045-1048
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2000496027
- Cited by
- 260
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 13.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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 › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- nitrogen cycling, Archean, nitrogen isotopes, nitrification, denitrification, molybdenum, sulfur isotopes, ocean oxygenation, organic-rich shale, rock core
- MeSH terms
- Aerobiosis, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds, Anaerobiosis, Archaea, Australia, Bacteria, Biological Evolution, Nitrates, Nitrites, Nitrogen, Nitrogen Fixation, Nitrogen Isotopes, Oceans and Seas, Oxidation-Reduction, Oxygen, Time, Geologic Sediments
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