Not so non-marine? Revisiting the Stoer Group and the Mesoproterozoic biosphere

Eva Elisabeth Stueeken; Eric Bellefroid; Anthony Robert Prave; Dan Asael; Noah Planavsky; Timothy  Lyons

doi:10.7185/geochemlet.1725

Not so non-marine? Revisiting the Stoer Group and the Mesoproterozoic biosphere

Eva Elisabeth Stueeken, Eric Bellefroid, Anthony Robert Prave, Dan Asael, Noah Planavsky, Timothy Lyons

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Poll a’Mhuilt Member of the Stoer Group (Torridonian Supergroup) in Scotland has been heralded as a rare window into the ecology of Mesoproterozoic terrestrial environments. Its unusually high molybdenum concentrations and large sulphur isotope fractionations have been used as evidence to suggest that lakes 1.2 billion years ago were better oxygenated and enriched in key nutrients relative to contemporaneous oceans, making them ideal habitats for the evolution of eukaryotes. Here we show with new Sr and Mo isotope data, supported by sedimentological evidence, that the depositional setting of this unit was likely connected to the ocean and that the elevated Mo and S contents can be explained by evapo-concentration of seawater. Thus, it remains unresolved if Mesoproterozoic lakes were important habitats for early eukaryotic life.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	221-229
Number of pages	9
Journal	Geochemical Perspectives Letters
Volume	3
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.1725
Publication status	Published - 13 Jun 2017

Keywords

Mesoproterozoic
Eukaryote evolution
Stoer Group

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10.7185/geochemlet.1725

Stueeken_etal_2017_Not_so_non_marine_Revisiting_the_Stoer_Group_and_the_Mesoproterozoic_biosphere
Copyright © 2017 European Association of Geochemistry. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.1725
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title = "Not so non-marine? Revisiting the Stoer Group and the Mesoproterozoic biosphere",

abstract = "The Poll a{\textquoteright}Mhuilt Member of the Stoer Group (Torridonian Supergroup) in Scotland has been heralded as a rare window into the ecology of Mesoproterozoic terrestrial environments. Its unusually high molybdenum concentrations and large sulphur isotope fractionations have been used as evidence to suggest that lakes 1.2 billion years ago were better oxygenated and enriched in key nutrients relative to contemporaneous oceans, making them ideal habitats for the evolution of eukaryotes. Here we show with new Sr and Mo isotope data, supported by sedimentological evidence, that the depositional setting of this unit was likely connected to the ocean and that the elevated Mo and S contents can be explained by evapo-concentration of seawater. Thus, it remains unresolved if Mesoproterozoic lakes were important habitats for early eukaryotic life. ",

keywords = "Mesoproterozoic, Eukaryote evolution, Stoer Group",

author = "Stueeken, {Eva Elisabeth} and Eric Bellefroid and Prave, {Anthony Robert} and Dan Asael and Noah Planavsky and Timothy Lyons",

note = "Funding for this project was provided by the NASA postdoctoral program (EES), the Lewis and Clark Fund (EES), an NSERC PGS-D grant (EJB), the NSF ELT (TWL, NJP) and FESD (TWL) programs, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute (TWL, NJP). ",

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AU - Asael, Dan

AU - Planavsky, Noah

AU - Lyons, Timothy

N1 - Funding for this project was provided by the NASA postdoctoral program (EES), the Lewis and Clark Fund (EES), an NSERC PGS-D grant (EJB), the NSF ELT (TWL, NJP) and FESD (TWL) programs, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute (TWL, NJP).

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N2 - The Poll a’Mhuilt Member of the Stoer Group (Torridonian Supergroup) in Scotland has been heralded as a rare window into the ecology of Mesoproterozoic terrestrial environments. Its unusually high molybdenum concentrations and large sulphur isotope fractionations have been used as evidence to suggest that lakes 1.2 billion years ago were better oxygenated and enriched in key nutrients relative to contemporaneous oceans, making them ideal habitats for the evolution of eukaryotes. Here we show with new Sr and Mo isotope data, supported by sedimentological evidence, that the depositional setting of this unit was likely connected to the ocean and that the elevated Mo and S contents can be explained by evapo-concentration of seawater. Thus, it remains unresolved if Mesoproterozoic lakes were important habitats for early eukaryotic life.

AB - The Poll a’Mhuilt Member of the Stoer Group (Torridonian Supergroup) in Scotland has been heralded as a rare window into the ecology of Mesoproterozoic terrestrial environments. Its unusually high molybdenum concentrations and large sulphur isotope fractionations have been used as evidence to suggest that lakes 1.2 billion years ago were better oxygenated and enriched in key nutrients relative to contemporaneous oceans, making them ideal habitats for the evolution of eukaryotes. Here we show with new Sr and Mo isotope data, supported by sedimentological evidence, that the depositional setting of this unit was likely connected to the ocean and that the elevated Mo and S contents can be explained by evapo-concentration of seawater. Thus, it remains unresolved if Mesoproterozoic lakes were important habitats for early eukaryotic life.

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KW - Eukaryote evolution

KW - Stoer Group

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IS - 2

ER -

Not so non-marine? Revisiting the Stoer Group and the Mesoproterozoic biosphere

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Keywords

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