Seeing through the magnetite:Reassessing Eoarchean atmosphere composition from Isua(Greenland) ≥3.7 Ga banded iron formations

摘要

Estimates of early atmosphere compositions from metamorphosed banded iron formations(BIFs)including the well-studied ≥3.7 BIFs of the Isua supracrustal belt(Greenland)are dependent on knowledge of primary versus secondary Fe-mineralogical assemblages.Using new observations from locally well preserved domains,we interpret that a previously assumed primary redox indicator mineral,magnetite,is secondary after sedimentary Fe-clays(probably greenalite)±carbonates.Within ~3.7 Ga Isua BIF,pre-tectonic nodules of quartz+Fe-rich amphibole±calcite reside in a finegrained(≤100 μm)quartz+magnetite matrix.We interpret the Isua nodule amphibole as the metamorphosed equivalent of primary Fe-rich clays,armoured from diagenetic oxidative reactions by early silica concretion.Additionally,in another low strain lacunae,~3.76 Ga BIF layering is not solid magnetite but instead fine-grained magnetite+quartz aggregates.These magnetite+quartz aggregates are interpreted as the metamorphosed equivalent of Fe-clay-rich layers that were oxidised during diagenesis,because they were not armoured by early silicification.In almost all Isua BIF exposures,this evidence has been destroyed by strong ductile deformation.The Fe-clays likely formed by abiotic reactions between aqueous Fe^(2+)and silica.These clays along with silica±carbonate were deposited below an oceanic Fe-chemocline as the sedimentary precursors of BIF.Breakdown of the clays on the sea floor may have been by anaerobic oxidation of Fe^(2+),a mechanism compatible with iron isotopic data previously published on these rocks.The new determinations of the primary redoxsensitive Fe-mineralogy of BIF significantly revise estimates of early Earth atmospheric oxygen and CO_2 content,with formation of protolith Fe-rich clays and carbonates compatible with an anoxic Eoarchean atmosphere with much higher CO_2 levels than previously estimated for Isua and in the present-day atmosphere.