University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK - Evolution of land plants changed composition of Earth's crust, study finds

Title:

Evolution of land plants changed composition of Earth's crust, study finds

 

Published:

University of Aberdeen, 30 August 2022

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/16300/

 

From the article:

A new study involving an international team of researchers has found that the evolution of land plants caused a sudden shift in the composition of Earth's continents.

 

ALSO SEE

 

Spencer, C.J., Davies, N.S., Gernon, T.M. [et al.]. Composition of continental crust altered by the emergence of land plants. Nature Geoscience, 29 August 2022. 

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00995-2

 

Newcastle University, UK - Tectonically-driven oxidant production in the hot biosphere [Scholarly Article - Nature Communications, August 2022]

Title:

Tectonically-driven oxidant production in the hot biosphere 

 

Authors:

Jordan Stone, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

John O. Edgar, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

Jamie A. Gould, Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

& 

Jon Telling, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK 

 

Published:

Nature Communications, 8 August 2022

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32129-y

 

Abstract:

Genomic reconstructions of the common ancestor to all life have identified genes involved in H2O2 and O2 cycling. Commonly dismissed as an artefact of lateral gene transfer after oxygenic photosynthesis evolved, an alternative is a geological source of H2O2 and O2 on the early Earth. Here, we show that under oxygen-free conditions high concentrations of H2O2 can be released from defects on crushed silicate rocks when water is added and heated to temperatures close to boiling point, but little is released at temperatures <80 °C. This temperature window overlaps the growth ranges of evolutionary ancient heat-loving and oxygen-respiring Bacteria and Archaea near the root of the Universal Tree of Life. We propose that the thermal activation of mineral surface defects during geological fault movements and associated stresses in the Earth’s crust was a source of oxidants that helped drive the (bio)geochemistry of hot fractures where life first evolved. 

ALSO SEE

Ancient Source of Oxygen for Life Discovered Hidden Deep in the Earth’s Crust

by Newcastle University (SciTechDaily, 8 August 2022)

https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-source-of-oxygen-for-life-discovered-hidden-deep-in-the-earths-crust/

The University of Sydney, Australia (May 2022) - How plate tectonics has maintained Earth's 'Goldilocks' climate

Title:

How plate tectonics has maintained Earth's 'Goldilocks' climate 

 

Published:

The University of Sydney, 26 May 2022

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2022/05/26/how-plate-tectonics-have-maintained-earth-s--goldilocks--climate.html

 

From the article:

Not hothouse, nor icehouse: when tectonic plates move at a moderate speed - not too fast or slow - Earth remains habitable, new University of Sydney research finds.

 

ALSO SEE

 

Müller, R.D., Mather, B., Dutkiewicz, A. et al. Evolution of Earth’s tectonic carbon conveyor belt. Nature 605, 629–639 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04420-x

Abstract:

Concealed deep beneath the oceans is a carbon conveyor belt, propelled by plate tectonics. Our understanding of its modern functioning is underpinned by direct observations, but its variability through time has been poorly quantified. Here we reconstruct oceanic plate carbon reservoirs and track the fate of subducted carbon using thermodynamic modelling. In the Mesozoic era, 250 to 66 million years ago, plate tectonic processes had a pivotal role in driving climate change. Triassic–Jurassic period cooling correlates with a reduction in solid Earth outgassing, whereas Cretaceous period greenhouse conditions can be linked to a doubling in outgassing, driven by high-speed plate tectonics. The associated ‘carbon subduction superflux’ into the subcontinental mantle may have sparked North American diamond formation. In the Cenozoic era, continental collisions slowed seafloor spreading, reducing tectonically driven outgassing, while deep-sea carbonate sediments emerged as the Earth’s largest carbon sink. Subduction and devolatilization of this reservoir beneath volcanic arcs led to a Cenozoic increase in carbon outgassing, surpassing mid-ocean ridges as the dominant source of carbon emissions 20 million years ago. An increase in solid Earth carbon emissions during Cenozoic cooling requires an increase in continental silicate weathering flux to draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide, challenging previous views and providing boundary conditions for future carbon cycle models.

Yale University - The oxidation of volcanoes—a magma opus

Title:

The oxidation of volcanoes - a magna opus

 

By:

Yale University, United States of America

 

Published:

Phys.org, 17 March 2022

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-oxidation-volcanoesa-magma-opus.html

From the article:

A new, Yale-led study unlocks the science behind a key ingredient—namely oxygen—in some of the world's most violent volcanoes.  

 

The research offers a new model for understanding the oxidation state of arc magmas, the lavas that form some volcanoes, such as the one that erupted dramatically in Tonga earlier this year.

 

ALSO SEE

 

Ague, J.J., Tassara, S., Holycross, M.E. et al. Slab-derived devolatilization fluids oxidized by subducted metasedimentary rocks. Nat. Geosci. (17 March 2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00904-7

 

AUSTRALIA - Ages for Australia’s oldest rock paintings [Scholarly Article - Nature Human behaviour, 2021]

Title:

Ages for Australia’s oldest rock paintings 

 

Authors:

Damien Finch, Andrew Gleadow, Janet Hergt, Pauline Heaney, Helen Green, Cecilia Myers, Peter Veth, Sam Harper, Sven Ouzman & Vladimir A. Levchenko 

Published:

Nature Human Behaviour, 22 February 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01041-0

 

Abstract:

Naturalistic depictions of animals are a common subject for the world’s oldest dated rock art, including wild bovids in Indonesia and lions in France’s Chauvet Cave. The oldest known Australian Aboriginal figurative rock paintings also commonly depict naturalistic animals but, until now, quantitative dating was lacking. Here, we present 27 radiocarbon dates on mud wasp nests that constrain the ages of 16 motifs from this earliest known phase of rock painting in the Australian Kimberley region. These initial results suggest that paintings in this style proliferated between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago. Notably, one painting of a kangaroo is securely dated to between 17,500 and 17,100 years on the basis of the ages of three overlying and three underlying wasp nests. This is the oldest radiometrically dated in situ rock painting so far reported in Australia.

 

See also:

Title: Australia: Oldest rock art is 17,300-year-old kangaroo

Published: BBC News, 23 February 2021

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56164484