Eukaryotization of the early biosphere: A biogeochemical aspect

The synthesis of data on the paleobiology and geochemistry of the Archean and Proterozoic and the ecology, biochemistry, and comparative genomics of living organisms provides a means for reconstructing the development of biological complexity on the subcell, organism, and ecosystem levels. The conditions and time of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis, eukaryotic cells, and multicellular animals were determined. These evolutionary events had a profound influence on the global biogeochemical cycles, sedimentogenesis, and climate of the Earth. Irreversible geochemical changes in the biosphere and the biochemical evolution of living systems are described as complementary processes. A decrease in hydrogen concentration in the early biosphere, an increase in oxygen concentration in the ocean, and changes in the bioavailability of metals (Fe, Ni, Co, V, W, Cu, Mo, etc.) known as enzyme activators were considered as key factors of eukaryotization. The reasons for variations in the availability of the metals in the biosphere were distinguished. The continuity of life was maintained owing to the preservation of the functionality of archaic metabolism types through the compartmentalization of biochemical reactions and the complication of cellular metabolic networks. The metabolic cascades of living cells probably recapitulate this prolonged evolutionary process. The exhaustion of abiogenic hydrogen sources stimulated the symbiosis of hydrogen-producing and hydrogen-consuming prokaryotes and the involvement of simple hydrogen-bearing volatile compounds (CH₄, NH₃, H₂S, and, finally, H₂O) as a substrate for life, which eventually predefined the chemical composition of the terrestrial atmosphere strongly dominated by nitrogen and oxygen as by-products of exchange reactions. The oxygenation of the ocean diminished the mobility and bioavailability of some metals that had served as the earliest enzyme activators. The evolutionary response to this process was the formation of mechanisms of extraction, accumulation, and the retention of ancient activator metals (e.g., Fe, W, and Ni) in the cell and in the ecosystem, as well as the active involvement of new metals (e.g., Mo, Cu, and Zn). Oceanic biota became the main concentrator and reservoir for these metals. The appearance of eukaryotic cells, the increasing role of heterotrophy, an increase in biodiversity, the complication of trophic relationships, the acceleration of the cycle of biophile elements, and other features of the biosphere eukaryotization were to large extent a response to the narrowing of the geochemical basis of life. A pivotal point in the prolonged process of biosphere eukaryotization was a series of glaciations at the end of the Proterozoic (750–540 Ma) and the active oxygenation of the ocean, which enabled the global expansion of eukaryotic organisms.     

A Refined Solution to the First Terrestrial Pb-isotope Paradox

The first terrestrial Pb-isotope paradox refers to the factthat on average, rocks from the Earth’s surface (i.e.the accessible Earth) plot significantly to the right of themeteorite isochron in a common Pb-isotope diagram. The Earthas a whole, however, should plot close to the meteorite isochron,implying the existence of at least one terrestrial reservoirthat plots to the left of the meteorite isochron. The core andthe lower continental crust are the two candidates that havebeen widely discussed in the past. Here we propose that subductedoceanic crust and associated continental sediment stored asgarnetite slabs in the mantle Transition Zone or mid–lowermantle are an additional potential reservoir that requires consideration.We present evidence from the literature that indicates thatneither the core nor the lower crust contains sufficient unradiogenicPb to balance the accessible Earth. Of all mantle magmas, onlyrare alkaline melts plot significantly to the left of the meteoriteisochron. We interpret these melts to be derived from the missingmantle reservoir that plots to the left of the meteorite isochronbut, significantly, above the mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-sourcemantle evolution line. Our solution to the paradox predictsthe bulk silicate Earth to be more radiogenic in ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pbthan present-day MORB-source mantle, which opens the possibilitythat undegassed primitive mantle might be the source of certainocean island basalts (OIB). Further implications for mantledynamics and oceanic magmatism are discussed based on a previouslyjustified proposal that lamproites and associated rocks couldderive from the Transition Zone. KEY WORDS: Pb isotopes, paradox, mantle Transition Zone, undegassed mantle, core formation     

The biosphere and problems of oil origin

The chemical composition, structure, and biomass of the present-day biosphere are discussed with particular attention paid to reproducibility of organisms. It is shown that the Earth’s stratisphere (sedimentary sphere) contains significant traces of past biospheres, which determines the biogenic oil generation potential. Based on indications of biogenic oil origin and particular examples, some aspects of the sedimentary-migration theory of oil and gas origin are considered.     

The role of glaciations in the biosphere

Glaciations took place in five long intervals of the geologic history, called glacioeras: Kaapvaal (Late Archean), Huronian (Early Proterozoic), African (Late Proterozoic), Gondwanan (Paleozoic), and unfinished Antarctic (Late Cenozoic). The glacioeras were similar in structure, duration, and dynamics of evolution. They consisted of three to six glacioperiods including several discrete glacio-epochs. The glacioeras lasted ~ 200 Myr. They started with small regional glaciations, which expanded, reached intercontinental sizes, and then quickly degraded. There were serious differences between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic glacioeras. A series of ecologic crises related to numerous glacial events led first to abiotic and then to biotic factors. Glaciations caused extinction and stagnation of the Earth’s biota, the appearance of bionovations and new biota, and acceleration of evolution processes. Thus, the glacioeras were the turning intervals of the biosphere evolution.     

Precambrian paleontology and acrochrons of the biosphere evolution: On the theory of the expanding biosphere

What is pre-life? We have no idea, since it is hidden in chemical molecules that conceal its future genetic potential. From the biological standpoint, a prokaryotic cyanobacteria cell represents a culmination of biochemical evolution. Its appearance on the Earth marked the starting point of the formation of the first biogeocoenosis on the planet, i.e., the onset of its biosphere. After having started, approximately 4.0–3.7 Ga ago, biosphere evolution has continued uninterrupted on the Earth. Its whole course is reflected in the geochronological record of the stratisphere, the stratified shell of the Earth. In the stratigraphic sense, this record comprises the Archean, Proterozoic (i.e., Karelian and Riphean), and Phanerozoic (i.e., Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic). They correspond to acrochrons, i.e., the main stages in biosphere evolution. According to the Precambrian paleontology, the first three acrochrons represent a pre-Vendian stage in the evolution of unicellular prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms that terminated in the Riphean with the appearance of their colonial communities. The true metacellular structure of tissue Metaphyta and Metazoa started forming only in the Late Neoproterozoic (Late Riphean). The Vendian Period was marked by a radiation of macrotaxonomic diversity with the appearance of the main multicellular types of the Phanerozoic organization level. Therefore, the last acrochron (lasting from approximately 650 Ma ago) should be considered as corresponding to the Vendian-Phanerozoic period. The Cambrian explosion corresponds to the mass expansion of skeletal Metazoa.     

The biosphere as a biogeomeride and its biotope

The concept of a geomeride proposed by V.N. Beklemishev in 1928 and subsequently mistakenly forgotten is of basic significance for the development of the biosphere doctrine, global ecology, and stratigraphy. In the article, notions "biosphere," "living matter," and "geomeride" are discussed. The specified term "biogeomeride" is proposed to emphasize the significance of the living constituent of the biosphere in its biodiversity.     

Inheritance of early Archaean Pb-isotope variability from long-lived Hadean protocrust

Comparison of initial Pb-isotope signatures of several early Archaean (3.65-3.82 Ga) lithologies (orthogneisses and metasediments) and minerals (feldspar and galena) documents the existence of substantial isotopic heterogeneity in the early Archaean, particularly in the ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratio. The magnitude of isotopic variability at 3.82-3.65 Ga requires source separation between 4.3 and 4.1 Ga, depending on the extent of U/Pb fractionation possible in the early Earth. The isotopic heterogeneity could reflect the coexistence of enriched and depleted mantle domains or the separation of a terrestrial protocrust with a ²³⁸U/²⁰⁴Pb (µ) that was ca. 20-30% higher than coeval mantle. We prefer this latter explanation because the high-µ signature is most evident in metasediments (that formed at the Earth's surface). This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that no straightforward mantle model can be constructed for these high-µ lithologies without violating bulk silicate Earth constraints. The Pb-isotope evidence for a long-lived protocrust complements similar Hf-isotope data from the Earth's oldest zircons, which also require an origin from an enriched (low Lu/Hf) environment. A model is developed in which ́.8-Ga tonalite and monzodiorite gneiss precursors (for one of which we provide zircon U-Pb data) are not mantle-derived but formed by remelting or differentiation of ancient (ca. 4.3 Ga) basaltic crust which had evolved with a higher U/Pb ratio than coeval mantle in the absence of the subduction process. With the initiation of terrestrial subduction at, we propose, ca. 3.75 Ga, most of the ́.8-Ga basaltic shell (and its differentiation products) was recycled into the mantle, because of the lack of a stabilising mantle lithosphere. We argue that the key event for preservation of all ́.8-Ga terrestrial crust was the intrusion of voluminous granitoids immediately after establishment of global subduction because of complementary creation of a lithospheric keel. Furthermore, we argue that preservation of ́.8-Ga material (in situ rocks and zircons) globally is restricted to cratons with a high U/Pb source character (North Atlantic, Slave, Zimbabwe, Yilgarn, and Wyoming), and that the Pb-isotope systematics of these provinces are ultimately explained by reworking of material that was derived from ca. 4.3 Ga (i.e. Hadean) basaltic crust.     

Lead and stable Pb-isotope characteristics of tropical soils in north-eastern Brazil

Stable Pb-isotope ratios are widely used as tracers for Pb-sources in the environment. Recently, a few publications have challenged the predominating view of environmental applications of Pb-isotopes. Present applications of Pb-isotopic tracers in soils largely represent the northern hemisphere. This study focuses on tropical soils from Paraíba, north-eastern Brazil. Lead concentrations and Pb-isotopic signatures (both 7N HNO₃) were determined at 30 sites along a 327 km E–W-transect, from the Atlantic coast at João Pessoa to some kilometers west of Patos, to identify possible processes for the observed (and anticipated) distribution pattern. Thirty samples each of litter (ORG) and top mineral soil (TOP) were taken on pasture land at suitable distance from roads or other potential contamination sources. Lead-content was determined by inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and the ratios of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁸Pb, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁷Pb by ICP-sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). Both sample materials show similarly low Pb-concentrations with a lower median in the ORG samples (ORG 3.4 mg kg⁻¹ versus TOP 6.9 mg kg⁻¹). The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios revealed a large spread along the transect with median ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios of 1.160 (ORG) and 1.175 (TOP). The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios differ noticeably between sample sites located in the Atlantic Forest biome along the coast and sample sites in the inland Caatinga biome. The “forest” sites were characterised by a significant lower median and a lower spread in the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁸Pb ratios compared to the Caatinga sites. Results indicate a very restricted influence of anthropogenic activities (individual sites only). The main process influencing the spatial variability of Pb-isotope ratios is supposed to be precipitation-dependent bioproductivity and weathering.     

新疆乌恰县萨热克铜矿床地质特征及硫、铅同位素地球化学

萨热克铜矿是塔里木盆地西北缘中新生界沉积盆地内的大型矿床。矿床定位于托云中生代拉分盆地西缘与东阿赖海西晚期深海盆之间的萨热克巴依中生代断陷盆地内,矿体呈层状、透镜状分布于上侏罗统库孜贡苏组上段(J3k2)灰绿色砾岩层位中,矿石矿物主要为辉铜矿、孔雀石,围岩蚀变较弱。矿石中辉铜矿3δ4S=-24.0‰~-19.0‰,指示硫来自地层中大量硫酸盐的生物还原作用,辉铜矿206Pb/204Pb比值范围为18.475~18.642,207Pb/204Pb为15.606~15.676,208Pb/204Pb为38.585~38.795,指示成矿金属来自于上地壳和造山带剥蚀区。结合矿床地质及地球化学研究,判断萨热克铜矿是与盆地流体活动相关的砾岩型铜矿。     

A contribution to the migration of gold in the biosphere of the humid mild zone

The content of gold in plants has been used as an indicator in the prospecting for gold. For this purpose non-destructive analytical methods have been developed. In the humid mild zone — where the process of weathering is of a kaolinitic character — there is practically no migration of gold, and consequently its increased content indicates the presence of a gold deposit.     

The arrow of time at the early stages of biosphere evolution. Determinism and pluralism

The modern theory of molecular processes provides a natural explanation for some clue observed features of biosphere formation during the early stages of the appearance of the molecular world. It was shown that a mere increase in the complexity of molecular objects is accompanied by the first manifestations of the fundamental properties that become subsequently predominant in much more complex objects: viruses, cells, bacteria, etc.     

Dolomite formation in the dynamic deep biosphere: results from the Peru Margin

Early diagenetic dolomite beds were sampled during the Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) Leg 201 at four reoccupied ODP Leg 112 sites on the Peru continental margin (Sites 1227/684, 1228/680, 1229/681 and 1230/685) and analysed for petrography, mineralogy, δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values. The results are compared with the chemistry, and δ¹³C and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of the associated porewater. Petrographic relationships indicate that dolomite forms as a primary precipitate in porous diatom ooze and siliciclastic sediment and is not replacing the small amounts of precursor carbonate. Dolomite precipitation often pre‐dates the formation of framboidal pyrite. Most dolomite layers show ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr‐ratios similar to the composition of Quaternary seawater and do not indicate a contribution from the hypersaline brine, which is present at a greater burial depth. Also, the δ¹³C values of the dolomite are not in equilibrium with the δ¹³C values of the dissolved inorganic carbon in the associated modern porewater. Both petrography and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios suggest a shallow depth of dolomite formation in the uppermost sediment (<30 m below the seafloor). A significant depletion in the dissolved Mg and Ca in the porewater constrains the present site of dolomite precipitation, which co‐occurs with a sharp increase in alkalinity and microbial cell concentration at the sulphate–methane interface. It has been hypothesized that microbial ‘hot‐spots’, such as the sulphate–methane interface, may act as focused sites of dolomite precipitation. Varying δ¹³C values from −15‰ to +15‰ for the dolomite are consistent with precipitation at a dynamic sulphate–methane interface, where δ¹³C of the dissolved inorganic carbon would likewise be variable. A dynamic deep biosphere with upward and downward migration of the sulphate–methane interface can be simulated using a simple numerical diffusion model for sulphate concentration in a sedimentary sequence with variable input of organic matter. Thus, the study of dolomite layers in ancient organic carbon‐rich sedimentary sequences can provide a useful window into the palaeo‐dynamics of the deep biosphere.     

Role of low solar luminosity in the history of the biosphere

It was shown that the history of the biosphere is closely related to processes caused by low solar luminosity. Solar radiation is insufficient to maintain the Earth’s surface temperature above the freezing point of water. Positive temperatures are kept owing to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere: CO₂, CH₄, and others. Certain stages in the development of the biosphere and climate are related to these effects. Methane was the main carbon-bearing gas in the primordial atmosphere. It compensated the low solar luminosity. Life originated under the reduced conditions of the early Earth. Methane-producing biota was formed. Methane remained to be the main greenhouse gas in the Archean. The release of molecular oxygen into the atmosphere 2.4 Ga ago resulted in the disruption of the established mechanism of the compensation of the low solar luminosity. Methane ceased to cause a significant greenhouse effect, and the content of carbon dioxide was insufficient to play this role. A global glaciation began and had lasted for approximately 200 million years. However, the increasing CO₂ content in the atmosphere reached eventually a level sufficient for the compensation for the low solar luminosity. The glaciation period came to an end. Simultaneously, a conflict arose between the role of CO₂ as a gas controlling the thermal regime of the planet and as an initial material for biota production. As long as the resource of biotic carbon was inferior to that of atmospheric CO₂, the uptake of atmospheric CO₂ related to sporadic increases in biologic production was insufficient for a significant change in the thermal regime. This was the reason for a long-term climate stabilization for 1.5 billion years. By 0.8 Ga, the resource of oceanic biota reached the level at which variations in the uptake of atmospheric CO₂ related to variations in the production of organic and carbonate carbon became comparable with the resource of atmospheric CO₂. Since then, an oscillatory equilibrium has been established between the intensity of biota development and climate-controlling CO₂ content in the atmosphere. Glaciation and warming periods have alternated. These changes were triggered by various geologic events: intensification or attenuation of volcanism; growth, breakup, or migration of continents; large-scale magmatism; etc. A new relation between atmospheric CO₂ and biotic carbon was established in response to the emergence of terrestrial biota and the appearance of massive buffers of organic carbon on land. The interrelation of the biosphere and climate changed.     

Principles of spatial organization and evolution of the biosphere and the noosphere

In his last lifetime essay, “A Few Words about the Noosphere”, Academician V.I. Vernadsky (1944) wrote that all living organisms on the planet, including man, are integral to the biosphere of the Earth, its material and energy structure and cannot be physically independent of it even for a minute. However, the substrate that generates all living beings and is no less tightly bound to the biosphere has always been characterized by a significant geochemical heterogeneity, traced both in the vertical and in the lateral structure of all geospheres.

The present work is devoted to three most important aspects of modern geochemistry and biogeochemistry:

• — evolution of the ecological and geochemical state of the environment under conditions of a virgin (anthropogenically untouched) biosphere;
• — structural features of the geochemical organization of the modern noosphere;
• — specificity of the interaction of living matter with the environment under increasing anthropogenic load.

On the basis of theoretical concepts of biogeochemistry and geochemical ecology, formulated in the works of V.I. Vernadsky, A.P. Vinogradov, A.E. Fersman, B.B. Polynov, A.I. Perel’man, M.A. Glazovskaya, V.V. Kovalsky, E. Odum, B. Commoner, E.I. Kolchinskii and others, the author puts forward a hypothesis that there exist two qualitatively different stages in the evolution of the biosphere.The first stage is recognized as the period of natural evolution of the biosphere during which it evolves successively into a more complex and more biogeochemically specialized object. In the course of the geological time, this constantly results, on the one hand, in an increase in species diversity and the perfection of individual species, and, on the other hand, to directed improvement and a greater differentiation of the geochemical conditions of the environment. At this stage, the evolution of all systems of the biosphere that were controlled by the mechanisms of self-organization and self-regulation resulted in the establishment of a dynamic equilibrium, which was responsible for the cycling of all essential chemical elements and therefore providing ecologically optimal geochemical conditions in all ecological niches and for all species and biocenoses inhabiting the biosphere at any given moment.The beginning of the second stage is related to the appearance of reason and qualitative changes in the biosphere caused by the goal-directed activity of the human mind, as an entirely new geological force that appeared to be able not only to disrupt the functioning of natural mechanisms of self-regulation and selforganization, but also to transform the environment in the intersts of a single biological species, Homo sapiens. A direct consequence of this change was the uncontrolled transformation of the natural environment, during which the primary structure (geochemical background) created in the course of billions of years was eventually superimposed by a qualitatively new layer of anthropogenically-derived chemical elements and compounds, thus building an interference pattern of a new geochemical field with which practically all modern living organisms are now forced to interact.An outstanding feature of the new evolutionary stage of the natural environment, called by Vernadsky the noosphere, is that biogeochemical changes at this stage proceed at a rate which exceeds that required for the living matter to adapt to these changes. The result is the disruption of the existing parameters of the biological cycle, leading to the emergence of a significant number of endemic diseases of geochemical nature.The proposed approach was used to prove the anthropogenic genesis of existing geochemical endemic diseases and explain the mechanisms of their appearance. In addition, this approach allowed us to develop a new methodology for mapping zones of ecological and geochemical risk and noticeably simplify the procedure of monitoring distribution and prevention of all diseases of geochemical nature.