Precambrian sedimentary carbonates: carbon and oxygen isotope geochemistry and implications for the terrestrial oxygen budget

Abstract

Abstract Carbon isotope values of 260 Precambrian limestones and dolomites (most of them being substantially unaltered) have yielded an overall mean of δ 13 C = +0.4 ± 2.7‰ vs. PDB; the corresponding oxygen values average at δ 13 O = +20.0 ± 4.2‰ vs. SMOW. Like the overall mean, the δ 13C values furnished by individual carbonate occurrences are, as a rule, fairly “modern” and almost constant as from the very beginning of the sedimentary record. A remarkable exception are the “heavy” dolomites of the Middle Precambrian Lomagundi Group, Rhodesia, with δ 13 C = +9.4 ± 2.0‰ vs. PDB. As a result of our measurements, the sporadic occurrence in the geological past of anomalously heavy carbonates seems to be established. The approximate constancy around zero per mill of the δ 13C values of marine carbonates through geologic time would imply a corresponding constancy of the relative proportion of organic carbon in the total sedimentary carbon reservoir since about 3.3 · 109 y ago (with Corg/Ctotal ≅ 0.2). Utilizing this ratio and current models for the accumulation of the sedimentary mass as a function of time, we get a reasonable approximation for the absolute quantity of organic carbon buried in sediments and, accordingly, of photosynthetic oxygen released. Within the constraints of our model (based on a terrestrial degassing constant λ = 1.16 · 10−9 y−1) close to 80% of the amount of oxygen contained in the present oxygen budget should have been released prior to 3 · 109 y ago. Since geological evidence indicates an O2-deficient environment during the Early and most parts of the Middle Precambrian, there is reason to believe that the distribution of this oxygen between the “bound” and the “molecular” reservoir was different from that of today (with effective O2-consuming reactions bringing about an instantaneous transfer to the crust of any molecular oxygen released). Accordingly, the amount of Corg in the ancient sedimentary reservoir as derived from our isotope data is just a measure of the gross amount of photosynthetic oxygen produced, withholding any information as to how this oxygen was partitioned between the principal geochemical reservoirs. As a whole, the carbon isotope data accrued provide evidence of an extremely early origin of life on Earth since the impact of organic carbon on the geochemical carbon cycle can be traced back to almost 3.5 · 109y.