AF: Rutgers University, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 71 Dudley Rd, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 United States
AB: The rise of free oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere, approximately 2300 Ma appears to have been delayed by approximately 400 Myr from the emergence of oxygenic photoautotrophs. One possible constraint of the oxidation process was the interaction of oxygen with other, essential, nutrient elements. We hypothesize that a negative feedback between the nitrogen cycle and oxygen evolution retarded the rate of oxygen production and limited final concentration of oxygen in Earth's Archean atmosphere. To examine the feedback processes, we developed a coupled biogeochemical model of the oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon cycles and examined how the behavior of these three elements is related to ocean circulation, the relative area of continental shelves, and the initial concentration of phosphate in the ocean. The model results suggest that the nitrogen cycle poses a constraint on the oxidation status of Earth. That constraint continues to the present time.
DE: 0300 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
DE: 1030 Geochemical cycles (0330)
DE: 1223 Ocean/Earth/atmosphere interactions (3339)
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling
SC: U
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting