Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Reworking of atmospheric sulfur in a Paleoarchean hydrothermal system at Londozi, Barberton Greenstone Belt, Swaziland
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Geology. (Nordsim)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2227-577X
2016 (English)In: Precambrian Research, ISSN 0301-9268, E-ISSN 1872-7433, Vol. 280, p. 195-204Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Anomalous fractionation of the minor isotopes of sulfur (Δ33S, Δ36S) in Archean pyrite is thought to reflect photochemical reactions in an anoxic atmosphere, with most samples falling along a reference array with Δ36S/Δ33S ≈ −1. Small deviations from this array record microbial sulfate reduction or changes in atmospheric source reactions. Here, we argue that reworking of atmospheric sulfur with distinct minor sulfur isotope ratios (Δ36S/Δ33S ≠ −1) produced additional variability in sulfide Δ33S and Δ36S-values in a 3.52 Ga hydrothermal barite deposit at Londozi, Barberton Greenstone Belt, Swaziland. In situ measurement of the four stable sulfur isotopes in pyrite revealed Δ36S–Δ33S relationships and a Δ36S/Δ33S trend (−3.2 ± 0.4), which is significantly different from the co-variation between Δ36S and Δ33S in the co-existing barite that reflects ambient Paleoarchean seawater sulfate. This argues against biological or thermochemical sulfate reduction at the time of barite deposition, and requires incorporation of sulfide generated in a chemically distinct atmosphere before 3.52 Ga. We propose a model that combines reworking of this sulfur by hydrothermal leaching, deep mixing with juvenile sulfur and surface mixing with biogenic sulfide to explain the observed variation in δ34S, Δ33S and Δ36S. These interactions between abiotic and biological processes in the Londozi hydrothermal system complicate the interpretation of biosignatures based on deviations in Δ33S and Δ36S from the Archean reference array.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 280, p. 195-204
National Category
Geology
Research subject
The changing Earth
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-1969DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2016.05.007OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-1969DiVA, id: diva2:1051037
Available from: 2016-11-30 Created: 2016-11-30 Last updated: 2017-11-29Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(1789 kB)646 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 1789 kBChecksum SHA-512
e4644771ac53c43ce62910eb3e0d2ad92d72fff43e2e6bee7938455e06639ce41b4abae9f8361f9d570dcf6bf97fb46134cb4dcbed28bb9f1069a7690844d600
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full texthttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926816301292

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Whitehouse, Martin J.
By organisation
Department of Geology
In the same journal
Precambrian Research
Geology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 651 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 173 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf