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Article Dans Une Revue Science Année : 2007

Early Archaean Microorganisms Preferred Elemental Sulfur, Not Sulfate

Pascal Philippot
Kevin Lepot
Christophe Thomazo
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James Farquhar
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Martin J. van Kranendonk
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Résumé

Microscopic sulfides with low 34S/32S ratios in marine sulfate deposits from the 3490-million-yearold Dresser Formation, Australia, have been interpreted as evidence for the presence of early sulfate-reducing organisms on Earth. We show that these microscopic sulfides have a mass-independently fractionated sulfur isotopic anomaly ({Delta}33S) that differs from that of their host sulfate (barite). These microscopic sulfides could not have been produced by sulfate-reducing microbes, nor by abiologic processes that involve reduction of sulfate. Instead, we interpret the combined negative {delta}34S and positive {Delta}33S signature of these microscopic sulfides as evidence for the early existence of organisms that disproportionate elemental sulfur.
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Dates et versions

hal-00315304 , version 1 (28-08-2008)

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Pascal Philippot, Mark van Zuilen, Kevin Lepot, Christophe Thomazo, James Farquhar, et al.. Early Archaean Microorganisms Preferred Elemental Sulfur, Not Sulfate. Science, 2007, 317, pp.1534-1537. ⟨10.1126/science.1145861⟩. ⟨hal-00315304⟩
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