Nitrogen isotope evidence for anoxic deep marine environments from the Mesoarchean Mosquito Creek Formation, Australia

• Published in: Precambrian research Vol. 320; pp. 281 - 290
• Main Authors: Koehler, Matthew C., Buick, Roger, Barley, Mark E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Anoxia; Mesoarchean; Nitrogen isotopes; Mesoarchean; Nitrogen isotopes; Anoxia
• ISSN: 0301-9268; 1872-7433
• DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2018.11.008

•The ∼2.9 Ga Mosquito Creek basin was likely marine.•Deep marine water columns were anoxic in the Mesoarchean.•The Mesoarchean is characterized by the persistence of nitrogen fixation by Mo-nitrogenase and the dearth of aerobic nitrogen metabolisms. Current evidence for oxygenated environments in the Mesoarchean is limited to the shallowest marine and fluvio-lacustrine settings. It is not until the Neoarchean that signs of oxygenated surface waters above outer shelf and basinal depositional environments become evident. In order to further explore the Mesoarchean redox landscape for signs of basinward surface water oxygenation, we present nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios from the turbiditic Mosquito Creek Formation of the Nullagine Group (∼2.9 Ga). The δ15N and δ13Corg values are invariant around −1.8‰ and −32‰ respectively throughout a 70 m section of drill-core, suggesting an ecosystem dominated by nitrogen fixers (anaerobic nitrogen cycling) and CO2 fixation by the Calvin Cycle. When compared with other Archean isotopic data, these results (i) provide further evidence that the Mosquito Creek Formation was deposited in a marine basin, and (ii) contain δ15N values that highlight the prevalence of nitrogen fixation by Mo-nitrogenase and the dearth of aerobic nitrogen metabolisms in the Mesoarchean.