Perturbation of the Earth System at the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition and the resilience of the biosphere
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Planned Impact
The nature of the research topic means that much of the direct benefit will be for the academic community (see Academic Beneficiaries), however as it tackles the emergence of complex life on Earth there will be significant public interest in the research topic, approach, progress and outputs. Going beyond the topic itself, our approach is non-traditional in that it is highly integrative and seeks to develop and exploit a step change to develop inter-operable multi-parameter datasets and models, impacting how others research similar 'Earth System' topics.
Beyond the academic community we expect the general public, in UK and China, will be beneficiaries of the research. The 'Cambrian explosion' and the origin of complex life on our planet was listed in an Economist article 'Life, the multiverse and everything, Science has remade the world, but scientists are not finished yet' (6th August 2015) as one of Science's six unsolved mysteries. This highlights that the research topic covered by this proposal is one of the big ones that captures the public's interest. Highlighting how the Earth system has evolved and operated prior to becoming our familiar world, will allow us to engage with the public and get them to think about complexity, feedbacks, and how systems evolve. Whilst the current changes facing the planet are operating at different timescales there are parallels to be made and lessons to be learnt from studying the 'Cambrian explosion'.
The focus on data mining and management within this project allows us to identify those organisations and professional scientific bodies who are invested in developing geoscience 'data management' tools. In the case of this project, such organisations would include the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA), and the EARTHTIME Initiative. These organisations will benefit from our engagement with such systems and using this project to accelerate development in identified key areas. These will include aiding the federation of data from the GEOCHRON databased with the stratigraphic data in the GeoBiodiversity Database, and the development of 'age-model' tools within the later.
A third group of beneficiaries represent the industries that are engaged with exploring the resource potential of late Precambrian and earliest Phanerozoic sedimentary successions. The resources in question are primarily hydrocarbons although economic sulphide and phosphorite deposits occur within these successions. With respect to hydrocarbons the late Precambrian is considered a frontier for exploration, and significant accumulations of Precambrian occur in basins such as the South Oman Salt Basin. The primary research we will generate will include information about the geochemistry of specific successions of the South China Platform, information about their paleogeographic history and information about basin development. Companies and industry funded research consortia will benefit from the approach developed in this research programme. Furthermore, the data generated, placed within the developing global 4D framework will allow us to export information to other basins which may have an economic potential (e.g., Oman, Brazil).
Beyond the academic community we expect the general public, in UK and China, will be beneficiaries of the research. The 'Cambrian explosion' and the origin of complex life on our planet was listed in an Economist article 'Life, the multiverse and everything, Science has remade the world, but scientists are not finished yet' (6th August 2015) as one of Science's six unsolved mysteries. This highlights that the research topic covered by this proposal is one of the big ones that captures the public's interest. Highlighting how the Earth system has evolved and operated prior to becoming our familiar world, will allow us to engage with the public and get them to think about complexity, feedbacks, and how systems evolve. Whilst the current changes facing the planet are operating at different timescales there are parallels to be made and lessons to be learnt from studying the 'Cambrian explosion'.
The focus on data mining and management within this project allows us to identify those organisations and professional scientific bodies who are invested in developing geoscience 'data management' tools. In the case of this project, such organisations would include the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA), and the EARTHTIME Initiative. These organisations will benefit from our engagement with such systems and using this project to accelerate development in identified key areas. These will include aiding the federation of data from the GEOCHRON databased with the stratigraphic data in the GeoBiodiversity Database, and the development of 'age-model' tools within the later.
A third group of beneficiaries represent the industries that are engaged with exploring the resource potential of late Precambrian and earliest Phanerozoic sedimentary successions. The resources in question are primarily hydrocarbons although economic sulphide and phosphorite deposits occur within these successions. With respect to hydrocarbons the late Precambrian is considered a frontier for exploration, and significant accumulations of Precambrian occur in basins such as the South Oman Salt Basin. The primary research we will generate will include information about the geochemistry of specific successions of the South China Platform, information about their paleogeographic history and information about basin development. Companies and industry funded research consortia will benefit from the approach developed in this research programme. Furthermore, the data generated, placed within the developing global 4D framework will allow us to export information to other basins which may have an economic potential (e.g., Oman, Brazil).
Publications
Bowles AMC
(2023)
The origin and early evolution of plants.
in Trends in plant science
Boyle R
(2022)
The evolution of biogeochemical recycling by persistence-based selection
in Communications Earth & Environment
Cao M
(2020)
Comparison of Ediacaran platform and slope d238U records in South China: Implications for global-ocean oxygenation and the origin of the Shuram Excursion
in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Clarkson MO
(2021)
Upper limits on the extent of seafloor anoxia during the PETM from uranium isotopes.
in Nature communications
Guilbaud R
(2020)
Phosphorus-limited conditions in the early Neoproterozoic ocean maintained low levels of atmospheric oxygen
in Nature Geoscience
Huang G
(2021)
CO2 and O2 oxidized 2.7 Ga micrometeorites in two stages suggesting a >32% CO2 atmosphere
in Precambrian Research
Hülse D
(2018)
OMEN-SED 1.0: a novel, numerically efficient organic matter sediment diagenesis module for coupling to Earth system models
in Geoscientific Model Development
Krause AJ
(2018)
Stepwise oxygenation of the Paleozoic atmosphere.
in Nature communications
Lenton T
(2018)
COPSE reloaded: An improved model of biogeochemical cycling over Phanerozoic time
in Earth-Science Reviews
Lenton TM
(2018)
The effects of marine eukaryote evolution on phosphorus, carbon and oxygen cycling across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition.
in Emerging topics in life sciences
Title | Past Invisible in Invisible Worlds at the Eden Project |
Description | Tim Lenton with Owl'n'wolf production created a 6 minute animation of Earth history for the 'Invisible Worlds' exhibition (ongoing) at the Eden Project |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | Public engagement and education - watch the video of the installation at http://owlnwolf.com/past-invisible/ |
URL | http://owlnwolf.com/past-invisible/ |
Description | We have discovered a new mechanism to explain the sporadic oxygenation of the ocean at the end of the Precambrian and the start of the Phanerozoic, involving the rise to ecological prominence of eukaryote algae. This increased the efficiency of burial of organic matter in the ocean, lowering the nutrient concentration in the ocean, and thus reducing the demand for oxygen in the water column, tending to oxygenate the ocean. We have updated our model of long-term biogeochemical cycling and used it to successfully reproduce extraordinary variations in the carbon cycle recorded across the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. We are also able to predict changes in atmospheric oxygen levels at this time, consistent with proxy data. We have also developed a model to explain the extraordinary oscillations of ocean redox state across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition. |
Exploitation Route | They form a basis for more detailed modelling research and they make geochemical predictions that can be tested using new or existing data. The research has already formed the basis for a successful project application to the Templeton Foundation. |
Sectors | Environment |
Description | Our findings have contributed to the Eden Project's 'Invisible Worlds' permanent exhibition and an accompanying Massive Open Online Course produced with the Eden Project https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/invisible-worlds |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Environment |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
Description | 'Invisible Worlds' at the Eden Project |
Organisation | The Eden Project |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We contributed to the 'Invisible Worlds' permanent exhibition at the Eden Project and produced a corresponding Massive Open Online Course together on the FutureLearn platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | Eden Project contributed personnel time to creating the 'Invisible Worlds' MOOC and they created and host the exhibition. |
Impact | MOOC https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/invisible-worlds Exhibition https://www.edenproject.com/visit/whats-here/invisible-worlds-exhibition Specific installation 'past invisible' https://www.edenproject.com/visit/whats-here/invisible-worlds-exhibition/past-invisible-exhibit and https://vimeo.com/282858008 |
Start Year | 2017 |