The geologic history of marine dissolved organic carbon from iron oxides.

ABSTRACT: Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is the largest reduced carbon reservoir in modern oceans^1,2. Its dynamics regulate marine communities and atmospheric CO₂ levels^3,4, whereas ¹³C compositions track ecosystem structure and autotrophic metabolism⁵. However, the geologic history of marine DOC remains largely unconstrained^6,7, limiting our ability to mechanistically reconstruct coupled ecological and biogeochemical evolution. Here we develop and validate a direct proxy for past DOC signatures using co-precipitated organic carbon in iron ooids. We apply this to 26 marine iron ooid-containing formations deposited over the past 1,650 million years to generate a data-based reconstruction of marine DOC signals since the Palaeoproterozoi

SUBMITTER: Galili N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12390840 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature