Isotopic Evidence for an Aerobic Nitrogen Cycle in the Latest Archean Export

@article{citeulike:4092260, abstract = {The nitrogen cycle provides essential nutrients to the biosphere, but its antiquity in modern form is unclear. In a drill core though homogeneous organic-rich shale in the 2.5-billion-year-old Mount McRae Shale, Australia, nitrogen isotope values vary from +1.0 to +7.5 per mil ({per thousand}) and back to +2.5{per thousand} over [\~{}]30 meters. These changes evidently record a transient departure from a largely anaerobic to an aerobic nitrogen cycle complete with nitrification and denitrification. Complementary molybdenum abundance and sulfur isotopic values suggest that nitrification occurred in response to a small increase in surface-ocean oxygenation. These data imply that nitrifying and denitrifying microbes had already evolved by the late Archean and were present before oxygen first began to accumulate in the atmosphere. 10.1126/science.1165675}, author = {Garvin, Jessica and Buick, Roger and Anbar, Ariel D. and Arnold, Gail L. and Kaufman, Alan J.}, citeulike-article-id = {4092260}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1165675}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5917/1045}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19229033}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19229033}, day = {20}, doi = {10.1126/science.1165675}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {early\_earth, n-cycle, nitrification, stable\_isotopes}, month = {February}, number = {5917}, pages = {1045--1048}, posted-at = {2009-02-24 11:12:01}, priority = {2}, title = {Isotopic Evidence for an Aerobic Nitrogen Cycle in the Latest Archean}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1165675}, volume = {323}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4092260 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4092260 N2 - The nitrogen cycle provides essential nutrients to the biosphere, but its antiquity in modern form is unclear. In a drill core though homogeneous organic-rich shale in the 2.5-billion-year-old Mount McRae Shale, Australia, nitrogen isotope values vary from +1.0 to +7.5 per mil ({per thousand}) and back to +2.5{per thousand} over [~]30 meters. These changes evidently record a transient departure from a largely anaerobic to an aerobic nitrogen cycle complete with nitrification and denitrification. Complementary molybdenum abundance and sulfur isotopic values suggest that nitrification occurred in response to a small increase in surface-ocean oxygenation. These data imply that nitrifying and denitrifying microbes had already evolved by the late Archean and were present before oxygen first began to accumulate in the atmosphere. 10.1126/science.1165675 IS - 5917 JF - Science EP - 1048 TI - Isotopic Evidence for an Aerobic Nitrogen Cycle in the Latest Archean VL - 323 SP - 1045 KW - early_earth KW - n-cycle KW - nitrification KW - stable_isotopes AU - Garvin, Jessica AU - Buick, Roger AU - Anbar, Ariel AU - Arnold, Gail AU - Kaufman, Alan PY - 2009/02/20/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1165675 ER -