onFecyclingandmassbalanceinoxygenatedEarthocea.pptVIP

Iron isotope constraints on Fe cycling and mass balance in oxygenated Earth oceans Brian L. Beard, Clark M. Johnson, Karen L. Von Damm, Rebecca L. Poulson 2003 Geology, 31/7, 629-632 Seminar Programme Brief intro to iron stable isotope theory Paper presentation Your Questions Structured discussion Model answers Iron Stable Isotope Theory 54Fe (5.84%), 56Fe (91.76%), 57Fe (2.12%), 58Fe (0.28%) Standard d-notation used: parts per 103, ‰ d56Fe = [ (56/54Fesamp / 56/54Festd) -1 ] * 1000 +ve enriched in heavy, -ve enriched in light Introduction Modern ocean [Fe] very low: 1 nM Residence of Fe very short: 70 – 200 yr Fe-Mn crusts show d56Fe = - 0.69 ‰ rising to + 0.04 ‰ after ~1.7 Ma Effect correlates with Pb, not diagenetic Inputs to Marine Iron Budget Isotopic Contribution Oceanic Fe Mass Balance Assume modern contribution proportions Missing Fe? How to account for highly –ve Fe-Mn? Lower d56Fe in some vent fluids?? Previous slide ignored dissolved fluxes Maybe these might be more significant than previously assumed? Dissolved Riverine Fluxes Fe is nonconservative during freshwater-seawater mixing. Small fractionation between dissolved Fe and ppt may cause large shift in d56Fe Some evidence for ppt fractionation Most Fe is Fe3+ so very low frac. potential Rayleigh Distillation Dissolved Atmospheric Fluxes Most dissolved Fe is Fe2+ If all iron is dissolved from particulates there will be no overall fractionation Equilibrium frac. between Fe(II) and Fe(III) may produce d56FeFe(II) = -1.4 to -0.5 ‰ Fe(III) lost immediately as insoluble Conclusions – 1 Highly sensitive monitor of ocean d56Fe Homogenous input values, source variation is highly unlikely on short scale Glaciations = high detrital input (ice raft, mechanical weathering) → d56Fe ~ 0 ‰ Interglacial = more MOR and chemically weathered Fe → d56Fe = - 0.2 to – 2 ‰ Conclusions – 2 However! Snowball Earth completely removes detrital input so values shift to –ve Alternative is variation due