TY - JOUR
T1 - 3.4-billion-year-old biogenic pyrites from Barberton, South Africa
T2 - Sulfur isotope evidence
AU - Ohmoto, Hiroshi
AU - Kakegawa, Takeshi
AU - Lowe, Donald R.
PY - 1993
Y1 - 1993
N2 - Laser ablation mass spectroscopy analyses of sulfur isotopic compositions of microscopic-sized grains of pyrite that formed about 3.4 billion years ago in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, show that the pyrite formed by bacterial reduction of seawater sulfate. These data imply that by about 3.4 billion years ago sulfate-reducing bacteria had become active, the oceans were rich in sulfate, and the atmosphere contained appreciable amounts (≫10 -13 of the present atmospheric level) of free oxygen.
AB - Laser ablation mass spectroscopy analyses of sulfur isotopic compositions of microscopic-sized grains of pyrite that formed about 3.4 billion years ago in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, show that the pyrite formed by bacterial reduction of seawater sulfate. These data imply that by about 3.4 billion years ago sulfate-reducing bacteria had become active, the oceans were rich in sulfate, and the atmosphere contained appreciable amounts (≫10 -13 of the present atmospheric level) of free oxygen.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.11539502
DO - 10.1126/science.11539502
M3 - Article
C2 - 11539502
AN - SCOPUS:0027922474
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 262
SP - 555
EP - 557
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5133
ER -