Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate

Geochemical analyses of sedimentary barites (barium sulfates) in the geological record have yielded fundamental insights into the chemistry of the Archean environment and evolutionary origin of microbial metabolisms. However, the question of how barites were able to precipitate from a contemporary o...

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Autores principales: Horner, Tristan J., Pryer, Helena V., Nielsen, Sune G., Crockford, Peter W., Gauglitz, Julia M., Wing, Boswell A., Ricketts, Richard D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5673900/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29109481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01229-5
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author Horner, Tristan J.
Pryer, Helena V.
Nielsen, Sune G.
Crockford, Peter W.
Gauglitz, Julia M.
Wing, Boswell A.
Ricketts, Richard D.
author_facet Horner, Tristan J.
Pryer, Helena V.
Nielsen, Sune G.
Crockford, Peter W.
Gauglitz, Julia M.
Wing, Boswell A.
Ricketts, Richard D.
author_sort Horner, Tristan J.
collection PubMed
description Geochemical analyses of sedimentary barites (barium sulfates) in the geological record have yielded fundamental insights into the chemistry of the Archean environment and evolutionary origin of microbial metabolisms. However, the question of how barites were able to precipitate from a contemporary ocean that contained only trace amounts of sulfate remains controversial. Here we report dissolved and particulate multi-element and barium-isotopic data from Lake Superior that evidence pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate. These pelagic barites likely precipitate within particle-associated microenvironments supplied with additional barium and sulfate ions derived from heterotrophic remineralization of organic matter. If active during the Archean, pelagic precipitation and subsequent sedimentation may account for the genesis of enigmatic barite deposits. Indeed, barium-isotopic analyses of barites from the Paleoarchean Dresser Formation are consistent with a pelagic mechanism of precipitation, which altogether offers a new paradigm for interpreting the temporal occurrence of barites in the geological record.
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spelling pubmed-56739002017-11-09 Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate Horner, Tristan J. Pryer, Helena V. Nielsen, Sune G. Crockford, Peter W. Gauglitz, Julia M. Wing, Boswell A. Ricketts, Richard D. Nat Commun Article Geochemical analyses of sedimentary barites (barium sulfates) in the geological record have yielded fundamental insights into the chemistry of the Archean environment and evolutionary origin of microbial metabolisms. However, the question of how barites were able to precipitate from a contemporary ocean that contained only trace amounts of sulfate remains controversial. Here we report dissolved and particulate multi-element and barium-isotopic data from Lake Superior that evidence pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate. These pelagic barites likely precipitate within particle-associated microenvironments supplied with additional barium and sulfate ions derived from heterotrophic remineralization of organic matter. If active during the Archean, pelagic precipitation and subsequent sedimentation may account for the genesis of enigmatic barite deposits. Indeed, barium-isotopic analyses of barites from the Paleoarchean Dresser Formation are consistent with a pelagic mechanism of precipitation, which altogether offers a new paradigm for interpreting the temporal occurrence of barites in the geological record. Nature Publishing Group UK 2017-11-07 /pmc/articles/PMC5673900/ /pubmed/29109481 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01229-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Horner, Tristan J.
Pryer, Helena V.
Nielsen, Sune G.
Crockford, Peter W.
Gauglitz, Julia M.
Wing, Boswell A.
Ricketts, Richard D.
Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
title Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
title_full Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
title_fullStr Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
title_full_unstemmed Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
title_short Pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
title_sort pelagic barite precipitation at micromolar ambient sulfate
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5673900/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29109481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01229-5
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