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Redrawing the early sulfur cycle

Nature Geoscience volume 13, pages 526–527 (2020)Cite this article

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The Archaean atmosphere may have been well oxygenated, according to a reconsideration of sulfur cycling at that time. This challenges the view that sedimentary sulfur records oxygen-poor conditions during Earth’s first two billion years.

The rise of atmospheric oxygen represents one of the most important geochemical events in Earth’s history. To date, most evidence points to an atmosphere with little free oxygen during the Archaean eon some 4.0 to 2.5 billion years ago (Ga), followed by a stepwise increase in atmospheric oxygen starting at the Great Oxidation Event around 2.4 Ga1. The rise of free oxygen in the atmosphere enabled the evolution of multicellular life, changed the supply of nutrients by oxidative weathering and solubility of bio-essential metals in seawater, and may have triggered the first global glaciation1,2. Reconstructing the timing of this major change relies on proxies sensitive to the presence of oxygen in the surface environment3. However, some researchers remain sceptical of the interpretation of a stepwise progression towards more oxic conditions from the geologic record4,5. Writing in Nature Geoscience, Ohmoto6 presents an alternative model of the Archaean sulfur cycle that instead requires an oxygenated atmosphere closer to the one we have today.

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Fig. 1: Eruption of Bromo volcano, East Java.

Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo

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  1. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Desiree Roerdink

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  1. Desiree Roerdink
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Correspondence to Desiree Roerdink.

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Roerdink, D. Redrawing the early sulfur cycle. Nat. Geosci. 13, 526–527 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0608-z

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