ISOTOPIC-GEOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF LIFE ON EARTH IN THE EARLY PRECAMBRIAN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/geotech2025.39.01Keywords:
Archean, Proterozoic, Great Oxygen Event, hydrothermal fluid, isotopic compositionAbstract
The time of the appearance of life and oxygen on Earth is debatable. In order to search for signs of the presence of life and the evolution of the Earth’s outer shells, in particular the time of the appearance of oxygen in the atmosphere, a comprehensive isotopic and geochemical study of rocks and hydrothermal fluid from the Precambrian deposits of the Ukrainian Shield and rocks from the Kryvyi Rih ultra-deep well was conducted. The objects in which the content of H2O and CO2 and the isotopic composition of CO2 carbon in gas-liquid inclusions (GLI) in quartz, pyrite and feldspars in the oligoclase, orthoclase-microcline-albite system were studied belong to two regions (megablocks) of the Ukrainian Shield and simultaneously characterize three age groups – Mesoarchean, Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic. The results obtained allowed us to identify the evolution of exogenous processes and signs of the presence of life in the Earth’s outer shells, in particular the time of the appearance of oxygen in the atmosphere. Evidence of the presence of life is considered to be a decrease in the content of heavy carbon 13C in matter. According to our data, only starting from the Paleoproterozoic, a decrease in the content of 13C in the CO2 hydrothermal fluid, which is characteristic of biogenic origin, is observed. A probable explanation for this phenomenon may be a change for amount of oxygen in the upper shells of the Earth. This coincides with the known estimate of the evolution of the oxygen content in the Earth’s atmosphere. A consistent decrease in both the content of carbon dioxide and the content of heavy carbon 13C in it in the hydrothermal fluids of mineral formation of gold and uranium ore systems of the Ukrainian Shield from the Mesoarchean to the Paleoproterozoic has been established. It has been confirmed that the Great Oxygen Event, i.e. an increase in the oxygen content in the Earth’s atmosphere, occurred in the Paleoproterozoic between 2550 and 2000 million years ago. It has been shown that a decrease in carbon dioxide content in Precambrian hydrothermal fluid occurred in the Neoarchean between 2700 and 2550 million years ago, i.e. before the increase in atmospheric oxygen content in the Paleoproterozoic (the Great Oxygen Event) and the formation of huge carbonate deposits.
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