The Geologic History of Seawater Oxygen Isotopes from Marine Iron Oxides

The oxygen isotope composition (δO) of marine sedimentary rocks has increased by 10 to 15 per mil since Archean time. Interpretation of this trend is hindered by the dual control of temperature and fluid δO on the rocks' isotopic composition. A new δO record in marine iron oxides covering the past ~2000 million years shows a similar secular rise. Iron oxide precipitation experiments reveal a weakly temperature-dependent iron oxide-water oxygen isotope fractionation, suggesting that increasing seawater δO over time was the primary cause of the long-term rise in δO values of marine precipitates. The O enrichment may have been driven by an increase in terrestrial sediment cover, a change in the proportion of high- and low-temperature crustal alteration, or a combination of these and other factors.