Earth's air pressure 2.7 billion years ago constrained to less than half of modern levels

Nature Geoscience

Volumn 9, Issue 6, 2016, Pages 448-451

  Som, Sanjoy M ^a,d,e   Buick, Roger ^a   Hagadorn, James W ^b   Blake, Tim S ^c   Perreault, John M ^a,f   Harnmeijer, Jelte P ^a,g   Catling, David C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

^b DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA   (Australia)

^d BLUE MARBLE SPACE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE   (United States)

^e NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS   (United States)

^g SCOTTISH CROP RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARCHEAN; ARGON ISOTOPE; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; GREENHOUSE GAS; IMPRINTING; METHANE; PALEOCLIMATE; PARTIAL PRESSURE; RAINDROP; SIZE DISTRIBUTION;

EID: 84973333885     PISSN: 17520894     EISSN: 17520908     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2713     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Holland, H. D. The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 361, 903-915 (2006
2. Sheldon, N. D. Precambrian paleosols and atmospheric CO2 levels. Precambr. Res. 147, 148-155 (2006
3. Kasting, J. F., & Siefert, J. L. Life and the evolution of Earth's atmosphere. Science 296, 1066-1068 (2002
4. Goldblatt, C., et al. Nitrogen-enhanced greenhouse warming on early Earth. Nature Geosci. 2, 891-896 (2009
5. Som, S. M., Catling, D. C., Harnmeijer, J. P., Polivka, P. M., & Buick, R. Air density 2.7 billion years ago limited to less than twice modern levels by fossil raindrop imprints. Nature 484, 359-362 (2012
6. Marty, B., Zimmermann, L., Pujol, M., Burgess, R., & Philippot, P. Nitrogen isotopic composition and density of the Archean atmosphere. Science 342, 101-104 (2013
7. Sahagian, D. L., & Maus, J. E. Basalt vesicularity as a measure of atmospheric pressure and palaeoelevation. Nature 372, 449-451 (1994
8. Sahagian, D., Proussevitch, A., & Carlson, W. Analysis of vesicular basalts and lava emplacement processes for application as a paleobarometer/paleoaltimeter. J. Geol. 110, 671-685 (2002
9. Sahagian, D., Proussevitch, A., & Carlson, W. Timing of Colorado Plateau uplift: initial constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations. Geology 30, 807-810 (2002
10. Flowers, R., & Farley, K. Apatite 4He/3He and (U-Th)/He evidence for an ancient Grand Canyon. Science 338, 1616-1619 (2012
11. Xia, G. Q., Yi, H. S., Zhao, X. X., Gong, D. X., & Ji, C. J. A late Mesozoic high plateau in eastern China: evidence from basalt vesicular paleoaltimetry. Chin. Sci. Bull. 57, 2767-2777 (2012
12. Aydar, E., et al. Central Anatolian Plateau, Turkey: incision and paleoaltimetry recorded from volcanic rocks. Turk. J. Earth Sci. 22, 739-746 (2013
13. Aubele, J. C., Crumpler, L., & Elston, W. E. Vesicle zonation and vertical structure of basalt flows. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 35, 349-374 (1988
14. Hon, K., Kauahikaua, J., Denlinger, R., & Mackay, K. Emplacement and inflation of pahoehoe sheet flows: observations and measurements of active lava flows on Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 106, 351-370 (1994
15. Moore, J. G. Density of basalt core from Hilo drill hole, Hawaii. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 112, 221-230 (2001
16. Blake, T. S. Late Archaean crustal extension, sedimentary basin formation, flood basalt volcanism and continental rifting: the Nullagine and Mount Jope Supersequences, Western Australia. Precambr. Res. 60, 185-241 (1993
17. Som, S. M., et al. Quantitative discrimination between geological materials with variable density contrast by high resolution X-ray computed tomography: an example using amygdule size-distribution in ancient lava flows. Comput. Geosci. 54, 231-238 (2013
18. Ketcham, R. A. Computational methods for quantitative analysis of three-dimensional features in geological specimens. Geosphere 1, 32-41 (2005
19. Berner, R. Geological nitrogen cycle and atmospheric N2 over Phanerozoic time. Geology 34, 413-415 (2006
20. Busigny, V., Cartigny, P., & Philippot, P. Nitrogen isotopes in ophiolitic metagabbros: a re-evaluation of modern nitrogen fluxes in subduction zones and implication for the early Earth atmosphere. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 75, 7502-7521 (2011
21. Turner, G. The outgassing history of the Earth's atmosphere. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 146, 147-154 (1989
22. Navarro-González, R., McKay, C. P., & Mvondo, D. N. A possible nitrogen crisis for Archaean life due to reduced nitrogen fixation by lightning. Nature 412, 61-64 (2001
23. Zahnle, K. J. Photochemistry of methane and the formation of hydrocyanic acid (HCN) in the Earth's early atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 91, 2819-2834 (1986
24. Kasting, J. F., & Siefert, J. L. The nitrogen fix. Nature 412, 26-27 (2001
25. Stüeken, E., Buick, R., Guy, B., & Koehler, M. C. Isotopic evidence for biological nitrogen fixation by molybdenum-nitrogenase from 3.2Gyr. Nature 520, 666-669 (2015
26. Papineau, D., Mojzsis, S., Karhu, J., & Marty, B. Nitrogen isotopic composition of ammoniated phyllosilicates: case studies from Precambrian metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. Chem. Geol. 216, 37-58 (2005
27. Holland, H. Volcanic gases, black smokers, and the Great Oxidation Event. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 66, 3811-3826 (2002
28. Honma, H. High ammonium contents in the 3800 Ma Isua supracrustal rocks, centralWest Greenland. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 60, 2173-2178 (1996
29. Mikhail, S., & Sverjensky, D. A. Nitrogen speciation in upper mantle fluids and the origin of Earth's nitrogen-rich atmosphere. Nature Geosci. 7, 2-5 (2014
30. Hersterberg, T., Moore, D. S., Monaghan, S., Clipson, A., & Epstein, R. in Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (eds Moore, D. S., & McCabe, G. P.) (W. H. Freeman, 2012