A CO2 greenhouse efficiently warmed the early Earth and decreased seawater 18O/16O before the onset of plate tectonics

Abstract

The low 18O/16O stable isotope ratios (δ18O) of ancient chemical sediments imply ∼70 °C Archean oceans if the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater (sw) was similar to modern values. Models suggesting lower δ18Osw of Archean seawater due to intense continental weathering and/or low degrees of hydrothermal alteration are inconsistent with the triple oxygen isotope composition (Δ'17O) of Precambrian cherts. We show that high CO2 sequestration fluxes into the oceanic crust, associated with extensive silicification, lowered the δ18Osw of seawater on the early Earth without affecting the Δ'17O. Hence, the controversial long-term trend of increasing δ18O in chemical sediments over Earth's history partly reflects increasing δ18Osw due to decreasing atmospheric pCO2 We suggest that δ18Osw increased from about -5‰ at 3.2 Ga to a new steady-state value close to -2‰ at 2.6 Ga, coinciding with a profound drop in pCO2 that has been suggested for this time interval. Using the moderately low δ18Osw values, a warm but not hot climate can be inferred from the δ18O of the most pristine chemical sediments. Our results are most consistent with a model in which the "faint young Sun" was efficiently counterbalanced by a high-pCO2 greenhouse atmosphere before 3 Ga.