Redox Stabilization of the Atmosphere and Oceans by Phosphorus-Limited Marine Productivity
Abstract
Data from modern and ancient marine sediments demonstrate that burial of the limiting nutrient phosphorus is less efficient when bottom waters are low in oxygen. Mass-balance calculations using a coupled model of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, phosphorus, oxygen, and iron indicate that the redox dependence of phosphorus burial in the oceans provides a powerful forcing mechanism for balancing production and consumption of atmospheric oxygen over geologic time. The oxygen-phosphorus coupling further guards against runaway ocean anoxia. Phosphorus-mediated redox stabilization of the atmosphere and oceans may have been crucial to the radiation of higher life forms during the Phanerozoic.
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Including an additional negative feedback on O2 from increased marine organic C/P burial ratios under anoxic waters increases its initial early Paleozoic level to 0.54 PAL and reduces the effect of the same biological forcing scenarios on O2 by ∼10-30%, giving a maximum increase of +0.63 PAL.
“Including an additional negative feedback on O2, from increased marine organic C/P burial ratios under anoxic waters (37), increases its initial early Paleozoic level to 0.54 PAL and reduces the effect of the same biological forcing scenarios on O2 by ∼ 10 -30%, giving a maximum increase of + 0.63 PAL (Table S5).”
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- Authors
- Van Cappellen, P., & Ingall, E. D.
- Affiliations
- P. Van Cappellen, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0340, USA.
- University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (US)
- ORCID
- Ingall, Ellery D.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1996-01-26
- Volume
- 271
- Issue
- 5248
- Pages
- 493-496
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W1999178866
- Cited by
- 412
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 16.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (OCE94-15563)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Keywords
- phosphorus burial, ocean anoxia, ocean redox state, atmospheric oxygen, phosphorus limitation, ocean primary productivity, iron cycling, carbon cycle, mass balance, biogeochemical cycles, marine sediment
- MeSH terms
- Atmosphere, Biological Evolution, Ferric Compounds, Ferrous Compounds, Geology, Models, Chemical, Oceans and Seas, Oxidation-Reduction, Oxygen, Paleontology, Phosphorus, Geologic Sediments, Geological Phenomena
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