Massive Expansion of Marine Archaea during a Mid-Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 293; no. 5527; pp. 92 - 94
• Main Authors: Marcel M. M. Kuypers, Blokker, Peter, Erbacher, Jochen, Kinkel, Hanno, Pancost, Richard D., Schouten, Stefan, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 06.07.2001; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Algae; Animals; Archaea; Archaea - chemistry; Archaea - physiology; Atlantic Ocean; Biological Evolution; Carbon; Carbon - metabolism; Carbon Isotopes; Crenarchaeota; Cretaceous; Cretaceous period; Cyanobacteria - chemistry; Cyanobacteria - metabolism; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Eukaryota - chemistry; Eukaryota - metabolism; Evidence; Exact sciences and technology; Fossils; Fractions; Geologic Sediments - analysis; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; Geology; Geology, Stratigraphic; Invertebrate paleontology; Isotopes; Lipids; Marine; Membrane Lipids - analysis; Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Oceanography; Oceans; Oxygen - metabolism; Paleoclimatology; Paleontology; Petrology of sedimentary rocks except quaternary rocks; Plankton - metabolism; Plants - chemistry; Plants - metabolism; Scientific Concepts; Sea water; Sedimentary rocks; Sediments; Shale; Shales; Stratigraphy; Temperature; Terpenoids; Time Factors; France; North Atlantic; Western Europe; Atlantic Ocean; World Oceans; Mesozoic; stable isotopes; black shale; C-13/C-12; Europe; Atlantic Ocean; biomarkers; Middle Cretaceous; drilling; Cretaceous; biogeochemistry; stratigraphy; expansion; sedimentary rocks; Albian; Lower Cretaceous; Ocean Drilling Program; temperature; Phanerozoic; organic carbon; clastic rocks
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1058424

Biogeochemical and stable carbon isotopic analysis of black-shale sequences deposited during an Albian oceanic anoxic event (∼112 million years ago) indicate that up to 80 weight percent of sedimentary organic carbon is derived from marine, nonthermophilic archaea. The carbon-13 content of archaeal molecular fossils indicates that these archaea were living chemoautotrophically. Their massive expansion may have been a response to the strong stratification of the ocean during this anoxic event. Indeed, the sedimentary record of archaeal membrane lipids suggests that this anoxic event marks a time in Earth history at which certain hyperthermophilic archaea adapted to low-temperature environments.