[B-PT27_28PM2] Phanerozoic biodiversity change: Extinction and diversification

[BPT27-11] Mechanisms regulating the redox state of an atmosphere-ocean system during the Paleozoic

*Kazumi OZAKI¹ (1.AORI, University of Tokyo)

Keywords:Paleozoic, atmospheric oxygen level, biogeochemistry, land plant evolution, biogeochemical cycle model

There is now a great interest in understanding paleoredox conditions of an atmosphere-ocean system because it is essential for investigating links between oxygenation of biosphere and major biological innovation/extinction. Therefore, understanding the regulating mechanism(s) of secular (over millions of years) changes of redox state of Earth's surface environments is one of the fundamental topics. Early Paleozoic is marked by the prominent biological evolution/diversification events (i.e., Cambrian explosion, Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, and advent of land plants). On the other hand, multiple lines of geological and geochemical evidence (such as black shale deposition, low C/S ratio of buried sediments, low molybdenum isotopic value, and iron speciation data) suggest that oxygen-depleted waters were generally more common and widespread in the ocean interior than they are today until the Devonian. Among these, recent finding of an increase in molybdenum isotopic value from ~1.4‰ to ~2.0‰ between ~440 Ma and ~390 Ma (Dahl et al., 2010 PNAS) attracts the attention because it implies the oceanic redox transition to a well-oxygenated condition. However, the ultimate cause of this transition remains uncertain.Considering the fact that the ocean oxygenation event correlates with the diversification of land plants since the Late Ordovician, causal linkage between them are intriguing; an enhanced chemical weathering on the continent by land plants could lead to an increase in the burial rate of terrigenous organic matter, giving rise to an oxygenation of an ocean-atmosphere system. However, it remains unclear whether the radiation of land plants is necessary to cause such redox transition.The evolution of atmospheric oxygen concentration has been studied intensively, but reconstructed atmospheric oxygen evolution varies widely between models, demonstrating that further understanding on the mechanisms controlling atmospheric oxygen level is still required. Because oxygen is most likely regulated by a combination of several feedbacks in the Earth system, it is essential to evaluate the impact of plant diversification on the oxygenation state of an ocean-atmosphere system with the aid of a biogeochemical cycle model. In this study, a model is designed to explore the roles of several feedback mechanisms regulating the redox state of the atmosphere and oceans during the early Paleozoic, and to reconstruct the paleoredox history of an ocean-atmosphere system during the early Paleozoic. The results of systematic sensitivity experiment demonstrate that (1) oceans before the advent of land plant had been kept in suboxic-anoxic condition, that (2) the diversification of land plant since Late Ordovician could cause an increase in atmospheric oxygen level to > 16% by the Devonian and ocean could be oxygenated by the Middle Devonian, and that (3) a redox dependent burial efficiency of phosphorus at sediment-water interface and degradability of particulate organic matter (POM) play substantial roles in atmospheric oxygen level before the advent of land plant. The modeling results confirm the causal linkage between plant diversification and the oxidation of Earth's surface environments. Our result also highlights the need for more quantitative and process-based knowledge of the decomposition process of POM in order to reveal the redox evolution of atmosphere-ocean system during the Paleozoic.