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Oxygen and hydrogen isotope evidence for a temperate climate 3.42 billion years ago

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  • M. T. Hren

    (Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
    Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2534 C.C. Little Building, 1100 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1005 (M.T.H.).)

  • M. M. Tice

    (Texas A&M University, Room 316 Halbouty, MS 3115, College Station, Texas 77843, USA)

  • C. P. Chamberlain

    (Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Braun Hall, Building 320, Stanford, California 94305, USA)

Abstract

A cooler Archaean ocean The widely held view that the Archaean climate around 3.5 billion years ago was remarkably warm — with ocean temperatures perhaps as high as 80 °C — has been questioned on the grounds that the established method of estimating ancient ocean temperature (from the oxygen isotope ratios of sedimentary deposits) is subject to significant uncertainty. Michael Hren et al. have adopted a different approach to estimating ocean temperature, based on an analysis of both oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of 3.4 billion-year-old Buck Reef Chert sediments from South Africa. The isotopes sampled are consistent with formation in waters no warmer than about 40 °C, suggesting that Earth's early oceans may have been far cooler than previously thought.

Suggested Citation

  • M. T. Hren & M. M. Tice & C. P. Chamberlain, 2009. "Oxygen and hydrogen isotope evidence for a temperate climate 3.42 billion years ago," Nature, Nature, vol. 462(7270), pages 205-208, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:462:y:2009:i:7270:d:10.1038_nature08518
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08518
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