Cycling on Mars

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

High-resolution remotely sensed data (HiRISE) from the Red Planet is free of charge to registered investigators (it did cost quite a bit to acquire), whereas the Earthly equivalent costing would set you back at least US$25 per square kilometre (for Quickbird. They are wonderfully clear, as Mars’s thin atmosphere causes no haze except during dust storms. They are also in stereo, providing both 3-D views and digital terrain elevation data with a precision of 1 m. HiRISE data have revealed detail equivalent to that from aerial photos of Earth taken from about 5 km above. Not surprisingly, they show a lot of geology, including an area around 500 to 1000 km2 with clear signs of layered sediments (Lewis, K.W. et al. 2008. Quasi-periodic bedding in the sedimentary rock record of Mars. Science, v. 322, p. 1532-1535). Where large craters have exposed sequences in their walls it is possible to measure bedding thickness and count individual strata. In Becquerel crater the layering is very regular, comprising two size ranges around 3.6 and 37 m, the second being made up of several of the first sized layers. The two sets of thickness remain consistent through about 300 m of section, so probably represent cyclical processes on Mars. The most likely driving forces are rotational and orbital, as they are for the Earth’s Milankovich climatic pacing. The 10:1 ratio between the two frequencies of bedding is twice that dominating the Milankovich time series (rotational precession and orbital eccentricity). One possibility for the Martian  cycles is the estimated variation of orbital eccentricity on 120 ka, 1.2 Ma and 2.4 Ma timescales, although axial tilt changes through tens of degrees; far more than does that of the Earth’s rotational axis. Thankfully, the authors stick to variations in wind-driven sedimentation to explain the bedding cycles. Changes in insolation on Mars would affect condensation and evaporation of CO2 ice at the poles, and consequently the density of the atmosphere and its ability to move and deposit sediment. Less fortunately, they suggest water must have been involved to lithify the layers. That hardly seems necessary on a planet with low atmospheric pressure, as unconsolidated wind-blown loess in western China maintains the integrity of its layering with little cementation.

Snowball Earth challenged again

Nobody doubts that in the Neoproterozoic there were several massive climate changes that brought frigid conditions to low latitudes. Some demand that the Earth then entered a runaway cooling because the increased albedo cause by continental ice cover would have reflected away a large amount of solar radiation; the Snowball Earth hypothesis is that the entire planet then became icebound. Evidence for the global glacial epochs is in the form of sediments clearly influenced by deposition of debris carried by ice. Later glacial episodes of Late Ordovician and Carboniferous-Permian age left thin tillites – lithified boulder clay – on glaciated land surfaces in northern and southern Africa and other parts of the southern continents, but the main evidence for the much deeper chills of late Precambrian age are thick piles of sediment studded with dropstones from floating ice. These are glaciomarine diamictites as opposed to tillites. Philip Allen and James Etienne of Imperial College, London and Neftex Petroleum Consultants of Abingdon, UK have paid particular attention to the Neoproterozoic diamictites of Oman (Allen, P.A. & Etienne, J.L 2008. Sedimentary challenge to Snowball Earth. Nature Geoscience, v. 1, p. 817-825). These prime candidates for typical products of low-latitude frigidity are over 1 km thick, and therefore require massive supply of precipitation to drive the large ice flows that could transport such large amounts of sediment. Moreover, within the sequence are many sediments that show little sign of glacial influence yet abundant signs of water transport, such as deltaic bedforms. Other strata are marine and contain ripples formed by wave action; a process that would be impossible with total ice cover. Cyclicity is present, as it is in other Neoproterozoic diamictites. That suggests repeated climate change. Snowball Earth aficionados, and others besides, claim just two and possibly three cryogenic episodes in the Neoproterozoic, but Allen and Young point to the wide range of maximum and minimum ages for those diamictites that are amenable to absolute dating. They suggest that, apart from glaciers being able to develop on land at lower latitudes than in subsequent glacial epochs, the late Precambrian was not ‘special, being merely a period of prolonged climate instability akin to those of later times paced by astronomical factors.

So, when did the core form?

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

Sometime early in its history the Earth underwent two gigantic redistributions of its chemistry: a gargantuan collision that formed the Moon; separation of a metal plus sulfide core from a silicate remainder. These ‘set the scene’ for all subsequent geological (and perhaps biological) evolution. The current theory about core formation stems from a marked disparity between Hf-W and U-Pb geochronology of the mantle. The first suggests a metal-secreting event about 30 Ma after formation of the Solar System – tungsten is siderophile and would have become depleted in the mantle following segregation of a metallic core. The second points to lead partitioning into a sulfide mass descent to the core around 20-100 Ma later; assuming that lead is chalcophile. The key to explaining the disparity and validating the dual core formation hypothesis lies in establishing just how chalcophile lead is, relative to other metals that are present in the mantle (Lagos, M. et al. 2008. The Earth’s missing lead may not be in the core. Nature, v. 456, p. 89-92). The German and Russian geochemists set up experiments to determine directly the partition coefficients of lead and the other ‘volatile’ elements cadmium, zinc, selenium and tellurium between metal, sulfide and silicate melts at mantle pressures. They found that Pb and Cd are moderately chalcophile and lithophile, but never siderophile; Zn favours silicate melts, and is exclusively lithophile under mantle conditions; Se and Te are both chalcophile and siderophile, so would enter the core in both molten sulfide and metal.

The measured partition coefficients give a basis for comparing the relative proportions of the volatile elements estimated in the mantle with those predicted by the two-event model of core formation. This elegant approach strongly suggests that sulfide or iron-nickel metal segregation from the mantle to the core can explain neither the mantle abundances of the five ‘volatile’ elements nor the lead-isotope ratios in the mantle. It even questions the existence of terrestrial sulfur in the core. The postulated Moon-forming mega-impact alone could have produced the measured geochemical features of the mantle as a result of vaporisation of ‘volatile’ elements.

Mantle heat transfer by radiation

After some early speculation about efficient heat transfer in the mantle by radiation, it became generally accepted that convection and conduction dominate at depth in the Earth. Yet the Stefan-Boltzmann law has the radiant energy flux of a body increasing proportionally to the fourth power of its absolute temperature. So at deep mantle temperatures of up to 4300 K radiation ought to be significant unless mantle minerals become opaque at high pressures. Mantle mineralogy is dominated by iron-magnesium silicates that adopt the perovskite structure. High-pressure experiments with perovskites reveal surprisingly high transparency to visible and near-infrared radiation (Keppler, H. et al. 2008. Optical absorption and radiative thermal conductivity of silicate perovskite to 125 gigapascals. Science, v. 322, p. 1529-1532).  It seems that a higher than expected radiative contribution to heat transfer should stabilise large plume structures in the zone above the core-mantle boundary.

Broody dinosaurs

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

The most likely ancestors of birds evolved in the Jurassic from a group of nimble and mainly carnivorous theropod dinosaurs known as Deinonychosaurs, which included the now famed Velociraptor. One of the oddest fossils ever found was the skeleton of one of these preserved together with eggs of what were originally thought to have been laid by Protoceratops. This Mongolian animal, seemingly caught in the act, was given the name Oviraptor or ‘egg seizer’. Specimens of Oviraptor and closely related dinosaurs found subsequently show them sitting on eggs; clear evidence of bird-like brooding. If this wasn’t a sufficient surprise, the clutches were enormous: 20 to 30 eggs. Detailed study of the skeletons shows that they are all males (Varricchio, D.J. et al. 2008. Avian parental care had dinosaur origin. Science, v. 322, p. 1826-1828). About 90% of all living bird species involve males in care of chicks, including sharing of incubation (5% of mammals share parental care). However, only among ratites (ostriches and the like) and tinamous do males brood eggs clutches continuously. This behaviour is generally associated with polygamy and large clutches. So the misnamed Oviraptor and its kin were not only progenitors of birds but may well have passed on the peculiarities of avian parenting.

Molecular evidence for the environment of the universal ancestor

If ever there were a ‘holy grail’ for palaeobiologists, it would be the nature and ecology of the original beings from which all life on Earth subsequently evolved. That is, the primitive organism – among perhaps many that were extinguished ‘intestate’ – whose genetic ‘footprint’ alone survived to be common to all three domains of modern life: Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya. For some time, attention has focused on extant heat-tolerant Archaea and Bacteria species (hyperthermophiles; ³ 80ºC)) found in hot springs, whose genetics seem primitive. This, together with other features such as the adaptation of heat-shock proteins to other functions and the abundance of metals at the cores of other widespread proteins, has led to notions that life originated under high-temperature conditions such as those around sea-floor hydrothermal vents. The ongoing explosion in nucleic acid analysis and software to sift through vast amounts of molecular data from many sources potentially may provide the key to more concrete ideas of the origin of Earth’s life. A recent comparative study of both ribosomal RNA and protein sequences among representatives of all three of life’s domains gives a clue to surprises ahead for palaeobiologists (Boussau, B. et al. 2008. Parallel adaptations to high temperatures in the Archaean eon. Nature, v. 456, p. 942-945). ‘Exobiologists’, who nurture great, but perhaps folorn, hopes of being alive and sentient when extraterrestrial life forms are ‘bagged’ may also find themselves perplexed; such is the fate of hubris without substance.

The team of francophone biochemists claims that their analyses show signs of a two-fold adaptation to changing environments during the earliest period of surviving life. Rather than having emerged from high-temperature conditions, the last common universal ancestor, or LUCA, probably adapted to more temperate conditions (£ 50ºC), the hyperthermophile Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya evolving from it. Heat tolerance then declined as the later mass of life forms developed. Sadly, the authors do not address the issue of deep ocean-floor origins in their discussion, preferring to speculate about Archaean climate change and rather odd notions about adaptation to high-temperature meteoritic ejection from extraterrestrial sources. It may be that they too are in for surprises when more mature investigations hit the press.

When bacteria became more sturdy

It’s easy for geologists to forget that most of the genetic diversity on Earth is and always has been in organisms that rarely if ever fossilise; those with only a single cell, among the Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya. All that is known is from those still alive, and they occupy a vast range of environments, most of which are not ‘friendly’ to multi-celled eukaryotes. Unsurprisingly, they don’t look very different from one another; just tiny bags full of water and a tiny amount of complicated biochemistry. They become distinct from their molecular make-up and also from what they do and where they live, some tending to reproduce best within the bodies of eukaryotes, such as ourselves sometimes with no noticeable effect, sometimes beneficially, but most spectacularly when they make us ill.  Bacteria and Archaea have long histories, so their genetic material and proteins are easily distinguishable from group to group. This makes them amenable to the use of a ‘molecular clock’ approach  in seeking out when and how they evolved. Analysis of these differences among more than 250 species of bacteria in the context of their living in water or under terrestrial conditions has thrown up some surprises (Battistuzzi, F.U. & Hedges, S.B. 2008. A major clade of prokaryotes with ancient adaptations to life on land. Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msn247). Two thirds seem to stem from a common ancestor that had colonised the land around 3.2 Ga ago, 800 Ma before preservation of the first undisputed fossils. To live on the continental surface, all have to have evolved or inherited resistance to environmental hazards such as drying out, UV radiation and high salinity. Many pathogenic bacteria belong to the Gram-positive group, whose cell walls are distinctly adapted to terrestrial life. Despite having to live in eukaryote-free world for a billion years or more, their ancestors were especially well-suited to infesting multi-celled life when it emerged, and to being notoriously adaptable when they are threatened with toxicity themselves.

At last, 4.0 Ga barrier broken

Published on by zooks7772 Comments

Since the 1960s when Stephen Moorbath of the University of Oxford determined a date of 3.8 Ga for metamorphic rocks in West Greenland discovered by Vic McGregor of the Geological Survey of Greenland, pushing the age of tangible rocks towards that of the Earth itself has been slow. Indeed, geologists found only one geological terrain that pushed the ‘vestige of a beginning’ significantly back in time beyond the famous Isua rocks: the Acasta Gneiss east of Great Slave Lake in northern Canada, dated at 30 Ma more than 4 Ga. In fact in the 30 years between Moorbath’s Greenland date and that for the Acasta Gneiss, stratigraphers seem to have become resigned to a maximum 3.8 Ga age for rocks, and the start of the Archaean was set at that age. All earlier time, some 750 Ma of it, became known as the Hadean – a hellish time from which nothing had survived. Some geochemists perked up with the discovery, sifted from a much younger sandstone in the late 1980s, by Australians Bill Compston and Bob Pidgeon of 17 zircon grains that formed up to 4.4 Ga ago; but they tell us very little about the early world. What had become the lost cause of seeking pre-4 Ga rocks, has suddenly become revitalised with the discovery of a voluminous suite of rocks that are 200 million years closer to Earth’s origin in the eastern part of Arctic Canada (O’Neil, J. et al. 2008. Neodymium-142 evidence for Hadean mafic crust. Science, v. 321, p. 1828-1831).

The rocks are part of a recently mapped greenstone belt on the east shore of Hudson Bay, which contains a variety of mafic igneous rocks along with metasedimentary banded iron formations and cherts. The most dominant of the mafic rocks has yielded a 146Sm-142Nd isochron age of almost 4.3 Ga, and they are intruded by mafic and ultramafic sills dated at around 4.0 Ga. The older meta-igneous rock’s geochemistry suggests that it formed by partial melting of undepleted mantle rocks to produce magmas similar to those forming at modern convergent plate margins. Its major element variability, reflected in very diverse metamorphic mineral assemblages, suggests it to have originally formed as a mafic pyroclastic rock. It would be hard to prove that the BIFs and cherts are the same age in such a structurally complex belt, but that they are as old as the dated material is a distinct possibility. In that case they push back tangible evidence for surface water a great deal more convincingly than the arcane isotopic evidence derived from the oldest known zircons (see Zircon and the quest for life’s origin in the May 2005 issue of EPN). That such a substantial piece of very old crust has turned up a record age owes a great deal to advances in the Sm-Nd dating technique; the use of 146Sm decay to 142Nd (1/2 life of ~108 years), rather than the more readily addressed 147Sm to 143Nd decay (1/2 life of ~1011 years). This proof of concept may unleash a reappraisal of rocks that seem to be the oldest relative to others in Precambrian shields on every continent. It may eventually become possible to show that, apart from its cataclysmic experience that formed the Moon and probably a global magma ocean shortly after accretion, the Earth was by no means a totally hellish period during the ‘Hadean’.

Banding in BIFs

Banded iron formations, or BIFs, from the late Archaean and early Proterozoic are made of interlayered accumulations of iron oxides (and occasionally sulfides) and chert, and are the world’s most important iron ores. The BIFs of the Hammersley Range in Western Australia produce 26 % of the western world’s iron ore, and are hundreds of metres thick. The banding extends down to the scale of a few micrometres, and in some cases seems to record cyclic events. It has been claimed that, sun-spot, tidal, Milankovich and other nature cycles can be discerned. Few dispute that the iron oxides formed by oxidation of dissolved iron(II) ions through the influence of micro-organisms in shallow seawater. A popular candidate is photosynthetic blue-green bacteria, which produce oxygen; abundant reduced iron dissolved in Archaean seawater would have consumed the oxygen to become insoluble iron (III) oxides, delaying the development of an oxygen-bearing environment util about 2.2 Ga. There are other possibilities, such as anoxygenic photosynthesising bacteria, or photoferrotrophs, that could have achieved the Fe(II) to Fe(III) oxidation directly, without the need for free oxygen.. The puzzle is the on-off mechanism needed to produce the banding itself. That may have been resolved by experimental work under simulated Archaean conditions (Posth, N.R. et al. 2008. Alternating Si and Fe deposition caused by temperature fluctuations in Precambrian oceans.  Nature Geoscience, v. 1, p. 703-708). The authors based their experiments on primitive, but living photoferrotrophs in conditions that chemically mimic likely Archaean seawater. They discovered that the critical factor in this form of biogenic precipitation of iron is sea-surface temperature: the microbes reproduce fastest to maximise iron-oxide formation at 20-25ºC. Temperatures above or below this range shut down productivity. However, temperatures above 25ºC favour silica remaining in solution, so the alternation of Fe- and Si-rich bands favours cooler sea temperatures for the latter. As well as providing a means of producing the enigmatic BIF banding, the experiments help resolve the controversy over prevailing sea-surface temperatures in the Archaean, which have been suggested by some to be as high as 85ºC. At least for the late Archaean, ocean temperatures seem to have been much the same as at present.

Two Archaean birds with one stone

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

There are two major issues concerning the Archaean mantle: was the mantle hotter than it is now; was it in a reduced or oxidised state? The first has implications for Archaean plate tectonics. If loss of the higher radioactive heat produced in the mantle was accomplished by processes similar to those today, i.e. dominantly by mid-ocean volcanism the Archaean geotherm would have been similar to today’s and plate tectonics would have been similar. If this means of heat loss could not cope, then temperatures would increase more rapidly with depth, with implications for the style of plate tectonics, especially subduction. A mantle with reducing conditions would be expected to emit reduced gases, such as methane, as well as carbon dioxide, to produce a reducing atmosphere. If oxidising conditions prevailed, then CO2 would be a dominant emission to the atmosphere. There have been arguments over these two aspects of the Archaean for decade, but now they may have been resolved (Berry, A.J. et al. 2008. Oxidation state of iron in komatiitic melt inclusions indicates hot Archaean mantle. Nature, v. 455, p. 960-963). One factor alone allowed the arguments to damp down: A 2.7 Ga ultramafic lava flow from Zimbabwe preserved a pristine sample of the original magma in the form of small glass blobs trapped in olivine. Measured proportions of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in a melt indicate those in its source, and hence the redox state of the source, mantle peridotite. The Zimbabwe melt inclusions are similar in this respect to those found in modern mid-ocean ridge basalts; they show a high degree of reduction. In turn that suggests that the melting that formed them was almost anhydrous, otherwise dissociation of water would have added oxygen that would have upped the content of Fe(III) in the melt. Experiments show that the degree of anhydrous partial melting of peridotite needed to form ultramafic magma is compatible only with temperatures around 1700ºC, about 400 degrees hotter than those that form modern basalt magma. Significant volumes of the late Archaean mantle, and by extension that of earlier times, had to have been a great deal hotter than it is today.

Early, microscopic evidence for human control of fire

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

Which human species first controlled and used fire has been debated for as long as archaeologists began to realise we had a long and complex ancestry. Because sites can easily be contaminated by charcoal from natural fires it has been difficult to present convincing evidence. But there is a way to get believable data. Stone tools and fragments from their manufacture may have fallen in fires set by hominins, and show changes caused by intense heating. One such example comes from a long-occupied site in Israel (Alperson-Afil, N. 2008. Continual fire-making by Hominins at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel. Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 27, p. 1733–1739). Nira Alperson-Afil of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem investigated small flint artefacts, probably flaked off during tool making, from eight levels excavated at the site. In all of them some flint shards showed signs of extreme heating, such as discoloration, crazing and tiny bowl-shaped pits (‘potlids’) resulting from exfoliation of hot flint surfaces. The features are reproduced by experimental heating of flint shards, and do not occur in those that have not been heated above 300ºC.

Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov was first occupied around 790 ka, by Homo antecessor, and the excavation levels may span around 100 ka. The site is the earliest to provide convincing evidence not only for the use of fire, but that it was a continuous part of the hominins’ culture: they could make it at will. Alperson-Afil suggests that fire making may have been an integral part of the Acheulean culture, well known for finely crafted biface axes, since its inception around 1.6 Ma ago. Ambiguous evidence for hominin fire use, such as burnt bones and reddened sediments, has been found at several sites in Africa dated between 1 and 1.5 Ma. Alperson-Afil’s meticulous micro-forensics should help African archaeologists and those working at very old sites left by migrating hominins in Georgia and Asia to check whether fire has such a long-lived place in our evolutionary history.

 

Evidence for past tsunamis

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

Since the Indian Ocean disaster of 26 December 2004, coastal areas world wide are increasingly examined for signs of past tsunamis. Much the most common focus is on large boulders on low-relief shorelines never subject to glaciation. On the Bahamas large blocks of coral scattered above sea level suggest past tsunamis perhaps caused by collapse of volcanoes on Atlantic islands such as the Canaries or Azores. Yet, ordinary storm waves, if focused by coastal inlets can literally blast large boulders from well-jointed outcrops and carry them hundreds of metres inland. So peculiar boulders on a coast do not necessarily show that a tsunami once struck, although many around the shores of eastern Britain may well have been dislodged by tsunami triggered by a submarine landslide off western Norway about 7 thousand years ago. In an attempt to get more reliable signs of past tsunamis, the devastated coasts of northern Sumatra and western Thailand have been searched for tangible signs of the 2004 event (Monecke, K. et al. 2008. A 1,000-year sediment record of tsunami recurrence in northern Sumatra. Nature, v. 455, p. 1232-1234. Jankaew, K. et al. 2008. Medieval forewarning of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Thailand. Nature, v. 455, p. 1228-1231).

Both teams homed in on boggy depressions or swales between fossil beach ridges on broad low-lying shores. There, debris carried by the huge 2004 waves could be trapped and then preserved by regrowth of vegetation. The generally low energy in the swales is also likely to prevent erosion, so that deep superficial sediment can build up that may preserve signs of past tsunamis. This focus paid dividends, in the form of coarse sand just beneath a regrown vegetation mat, with distinctive signs that the sand had been deposited by transport from the seaward side of swales. Coring and trenching then unearthed deeper, older sands with exactly the same structure. The surprise was the antiquity of the tsunami sands: layers carbon-dated around 1300-1400, 780-990 AD and 250 BC. Clearly, more extensive surveys of this kind are necessary wherever coastal conditions permit good preservation. That would give an idea of the periodicity of earthquakes and landslips energetic enough to produce coastal catastrophes around major ocean basins. Yet there is a danger: if, as suggested by the Thai and Indonesia data, several centuries have lapsed between such dreadful events, it presents an excuse not to install costly monitoring devices or permanently shift coastal townships to foretell or prevent future disasters.

See also: Bondevik, S. 2008. The sands of tsunami time. Nature, v. 455, p. 1183-1184.

Chinese PM is a geo

Like me, many EPN readers may have admired the swift, effective and open response of the government of the People’s Republic of China to the Szechuan earthquake disaster in May 2008. They may also be surprised to learn that Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of the PRC, is geologist who worked for 14 years with a provincial geological survey. To read an abbreviated transcript of a dialogue between the editor of Science and Wen Jiabao was refreshing, and quite probably unique in a world where most senior politicians are, to say the least, not science-savvy (Alberts, B. & Jiabao, W. 2008. China’s scientist premier Q&A. Science, v. 322, p. 362-364; full transcript at www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5900/362/DC1).

Does glaciation preserve the Tibetan plateau?

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

At first glance this section’s title seems absurd, for glaciation has the highest potential for erosion that there is on Earth. Yet it seems that at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau the long-term potential for river erosion has been impeded by glacial action (Korup, O. & Montgomery, D.R. 2008. Tibetan plateau river incision inhibited by glacial stabilisation of the Tsangpo gorge. Nature, v. 455, p. 786-789). The accepted wisdom is that in the course of powerful rivers, such as the Tsangpo, steep stretches or ‘knick points’ focus erosion that proceeds headwards to drive a wave of dissection towards the sources of the main river and of all its tributaries. The Tsangpo has had the better part of 40-50 Ma since the India-Asia collision to eat away the vast Tibetan Plateau, but it has failed, as have other, lesser river systems. Repeatedly emplaced moraine dams, seem to have locked the knick points associated with the Tsangpo catchment at around 260 separate locations.

See also: Owen, L.A. 2008. How Tibet might keep its edge. Nature, v. 455, p. 748-749.

Holding it together

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

Even for experienced geologists it is always exciting to come across direct and tangible evidence for a concept conceived in the 18th century Scottish Enlightenment, taken up by James Hutton and immortalised by Charles Lyell as “the present is the key to the past”. The most common are ripple marks, sun cracks and raindrop impressions, usually in sandstones. Now relatively high-energy currents move sands, so that every tide on a beach or in an estuary obliterates the previous tide’s sedimentary structures: it is easy to think of them as somehow being ‘one in a billion’ chance preservations. In fact they are a lot more common than common sense might suggest. That is because photoautotropic bacteria can coat sediment surfaces quite quickly to form biofilms or microbial mats, given the right conditions. They knit the grains together, thereby armouring the structures against erosion to some extent. The October 2008 issue of GSA Today begins with a useful summary of the influence of biofilms in preserving intricate signs of sedimentary processes (Noffke, N. 2008. Turbulent lifestyle: microbial mats on Earth’s sandy beaches – today and 3 billion years ago. GSA Today, v. 18 October issue, p. 4-9). Equally important, the author shows how close examination of Archaean littoral sedimentary structures reveals clear signs of the microbial mats themselves. These are convincing evidence for ancient life, even in the absence of tangible fossil cells (the oldest undisputed fossils date back only about 2 Ga).

The Palaeozoic record of sea-level change

Variations in global sea level shift the positions where different sedimentary facies are deposited, and also shift some aspects of oceanic chemistry. Consequently they have long been of interest to petroleum explorationists because reservoir and source facies will be laid down in different areas as the sea inundates stable continental areas or withdraws from them. Plots of changing sea level can be derived indirectly from seismic sections that reveal on- and off-lapping stratal sequences with detail added from the stratigraphy of such sequences determined in the field or from well logs, and considerable detail is available globally for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras. The Palaeozoic Era is not so well known, and information has been acquired piecemeal but not correlated to time. So, a semiquantitative compilation will be welcomed in many quarters (Haq, B.U. & Schutter, S.R. 2008. A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes. Science, v. 322, p. 64-68). The outcome reveals a steady rise, with short term ups and downs, from about modern levels to around 220 m higher through the Cambrian and Ordovician, dropping in late Ordovician times by about 80 m, perhaps due to glaciation at that time. Through the Silurian and Devonian global sea-level stood around 180 m higher than now, with only broad fluctuation, then to fall gradually through the Carboniferous to reach modern levels around 320 Ma.  The Devonian to mid-Carboniferous decline marks the onset of the longest glaciation in Earth’s history, the lasted until the late Permian. The broad shifts have a superimposed short-term eustatic fluctuations, resolved into 172 separable events that vary in amplitude from a few tens of metres to around 125 m. Parts of the record show short-term fluctuations that may correspond to the ~400 ka cycle bound up with Earth’s orbital eccentricity. Yet there is insufficient evidence outside the Carboniferous-Permian glacial epoch to suppose that 400 ka shifts in sea level had a glacial origin

Chemical conditions for the end-Permian mass extinction

Published on by zooks777Leave a comment

From an empirical standpoint the mass extinction at the close of the Palaeozoic, 251 Ma ago, links closely with eruption of the largest known flood basalt pile in Siberia, and there is no known extraterrestrial impact that tallies. So it seems likely that the P-T event was generated by the influence of a mighty mantle plume on surface conditions. Careful statistical analysis of the marine faunas that preceded and followed the event give some clues to geochemical conditions associated with the extinctions and slow Triassic recovery of animal diversity (Bottjjer, D.J. et al. 2008. Understanding mechanisms for the end-Permian mass extinction and the protracted Early Triassic aftermath and recovery. GSA Today, v. 18, September 2008 issue, p.4-10). Brachiopods, bivalves and bryozoans, in terms of their respective diversities and abundance relative to one another, changed markedly. On the late Permian seafloor, brachiopods and bryozoa fell in both measures, whereas bivalves exploded in numbers but became dominated by just 4 genera. This ecological lop-sidedness continued in the early Triassic. Such an oddity in itself suggests that some kind of geochemical stress was present in marine environments for a protracted period of time. The most likely stressful agents are increased CO2 and H2S, and decreased oxygen. The faunal review goes on to discuss the need for experimental manipulation of oxygen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide concentrations to see the effects on modern organisms.

Another approach to the issue of the P-T event is to model the conditions that may have led to anoxia linked with increased CO2 and H2S (Meyer, K.M. et al. 2008. Biochemical controls on photic-zone euxinia during the end-Permian mass extinction. Geology, v. 36, p. 747-750). The authors use an Earth system model of ocean circulation coupled with one for the distribution of atmospheric moisture when the continents were assembled into the Pangaea supercontinent. Chemical constraints were 12 times the current carbon dioxide content for the atmosphere and about one fifth of its present oxygen content (see New twist for end-Permian extinctions in the May 2005 issue of EPN), roughly those accepted for the time. The supply of phosphate to the oceans was varied up to 10 times present values. Specifically, the model examined the likely effects of such conditions on the likelihood of hydrogen sulfide production in the oceans and its transfer to the uppermost ocean water. Increasing supply of phosphate inexorably drives global near-surface conditions towards anoxia and H2S – rich conditions. Even adding sulfide-oxidising bacteria to the surface waters doesn’t prevent runaway toxicity, including export of hydrogen sulfide to the atmosphere that would drive many land animals to extinction. It is hard to think of a more pervasive and effective ‘kill mechanism’, nor one that would have lingered for longer, thereby satisfying the evidence, including the extremely long biota recovery time during the Triassic. The two accounts taken together cast doubt on a determining role for the Siberian flood basalts, which were relatively short-lived, although volcanic emissions of CO.2 and SO2 may have placed a chemical ‘last straw’ on already stressed organisms.

Plant evolution summarised

Papers on palaeobotany, especially the evolution of plants are a lot less frequent than those on many other broad geoscience topics. So to see a review is welcome (O’Donoghue, J. 2008. Petal Power. New Scientist, v. 200 1 November 2008 issue, p. 36-39). O’Donoghue summarises recent publications on the rise of the angiosperms – Darwin’s “abominable mystery” – since the Jurassic. Accepted wisdom has long been that the earliest flowering plants were akin to modern magnolias that seem anatomically primitive. That assumption has much to answer for, because palaeobotanists sought evidence for big, simple flowers. It was a piece of pure luck that resolved the issue, in the form of fossilised debris from an 83 Ma wildfire found in Sweden. The carbon-rich clay contained masses of flowers only a few mm across, which resemble those of walnuts, plane trees and saxifrages. A shift in focus to minute blooms enabled Chinese geologists working on evidence for the habitat of the famous feathered dinosaurs to find the earliest flowers yet in an early Cretaceous (125 Ma) lagerstätte. They are humble indeed, resembling duckweed. Pushing back further the time of separation of the angiosperms from a presumed gymnosperm (cycads, ginkgoes and conifers) has depended on molecular evidence from living primitive flowering plants, and came up with a humble shrub from New Caledonia (Amborella), the srat anise plant (a member of the Austrobaileyales group) and water lilies. A molecular-clock approach suggests an evolutionary jump from gymnosperms took place as far back as the early Jurassic. The peculiar means of sexual reproduction evolved by angiosperms – giving animals a ‘free lunch’ with the perk to plants of their carrying pollen – cut the amount of energy involved in reproduction by massive pollen release for wind fertilisation and production of seeds without guaranteed fertility used by gymnosperms. In turn is resulted in a massive adaptive radiation by insects in particular, seeing the bees evolve from predatory wasps in early Cretaceous times. Now, to a very large extent, angiosperms are dependent on the humble bee. An alarming fact since bee diseases and parasites are currently getting the upper hand, while we become ever dependent on food sources from a  dominantly angiosperm crops.

The strange case of the line-dancing arthropods

Lagerstätten – sites of extraordinarily good fossil preservation – generally throw up surprises and oddities, and those of Cambrian age in China are no exception. Cambrian arthropods, notably the trilobites but also shrimp-like creatures, are not uncommon in them. But any animals that appear to have been engaged in communal activities are cause for both a double-take and a short communication (Hou, X-G. et al. 2008. Collective behaviour in an Early Cambrian arthropod. Science, v. 322, p. 224). About 22 groupings of shrimp-like fossils show individuals linked in ‘nose-to-tail’ chains, the tail (telson) of one in front being lodged in the carapace of that behind. Not only that, but the chains are meandering. ‘Follow-my-leader’ behaviour is seen in modern lobsters bent on migration; perhaps the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Lobster Quadrille in Alice in Wonderland. Since no modern arthropods link in such chains for reproductive purposes, and mouth-clenching a partner’s tail is not good evidence for feeding behaviour, the authors’ conclusion is that indeed the diminutive and very ancient creatures were probably hooked-up to go somewhere more conducive to their habits.

Evidence for earliest photosynthesisers takes a knock

The first tangible and isotopic evidence for the permanent presence of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere appears in sedimentary rocks dated at about 2.4 Ga. From that we can surmise that some organisms had previously evolved the photosynthetic trick of breaking the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in water: nothing else is known in nature to produce free oxygen on a planetary scale. Frustratingly, the earliest undisputed fossils of such organisms – blue-green bacteria – are a lot younger; around 2 Ga. Structures in sedimentary rocks back to 3.5 Ga, such as stromatolites, which do look a lot like products of living cyanobacteria and may have a biogenic origin, do not contain cellular structures that would constitute proof. So a report in the late 1990s of organic-chemical evidence for cyanobacteria from 2.7 Ga old sediments was greeted with some relief. These oldest biomarkers also included compounds characteristic of eukaryotes; an even more astonishing outcome, given that the oldest undoubted eukaryote fossils are from 1.5 Ga sediments. The ancient biomarkers have been much celebrated, but there is a problem: if cyanobacteria were around at 2.7 Ga in sufficient amounts for their biomarkers to be preserved, how come it took 300 Ma for oxygen to build up in the atmosphere? A novel technology for geochemists has been applied to resolve the issue of the Archaean biomarkers (Rassmussen, B. et al. 2008. Reassessing the first appearance of eukaryotes and cyanobacteria. Nature, v. 455, p. 1101-1104). One of the co-authors, Jochen Brocks of the Australian National University, was an originator of the study on biomarkers, so clearly the new technology has thrown matters into considerable disarray. The oily biomarkers accompany solid kerogen in the late Archaean sediments, in microscopic amounts. Ion-probe mass spectrometry with a 50 nm resolution has provided carbon-isotope measurements of minute samples of several kinds of hydrocarbon in thin sections. These show, with little room for doubt, that the organic compounds thought to have been biomarkers for cyanobacteria and eukaryotes formed by ‘cracking’ of kerogen during thermal metamorphism at about 2.2 Ga. Any other claims based on supposedly specific biomarkers are likely to be ‘tarred with the same brush’. How annoying: complex life clearly was around before 2.4 Ga, some of capable of photosynthesis, but that conjecture cannot be proven!

Much ingenuity has been harnessed to design robotic geochemistry that will be aimed at the popular topic of ‘Life on Mars’ in the coming decades. It would be no surprise if biomarkers are targeted. Yet it is entirely possible that hydrocarbons of inorganic origin can yield such compounds, given some geothermal heating…

See also: Fischer, W.W. 2008. Life before the rise of oxygen. Nature, v. 455, p. 1051-2.