Do Low 15N Values in Paleozoic Epeiric Basins Indicate High Rates of N Fixation?
Abstract
As a consequence of the high energetic requirements of dinitrogen (N2) fixation, organic N produced by diazotrophic microorganisms typically exhibits δ15N values similar to atmospheric N2 (approximately 0%). Because the δ15N of organic-rich Paleozoic epeiric basin sediments often has values in the vicinity of 0%, it is frequently asserted that N2 fixation was the primary source of new reactive N for productivity. There are two broad reasons why recourse to widespread and intensive N fixation as the primary source of the organic N is problematic. First, there are substantial physiological and ecological constraints on marine N fixation that limit its extent in modern oceans primarily to open ocean basins. Second, preservation of an unaltered isotopic signature of diazotrophy in underlying sediments is not a likely outcome of oxic and anoxic diagenetic alteration and repeated cycles of mineralization and assimilation. Constraining the sources of reactive N for primary productivity is critical to understanding the N cycle in Paleozoic epeiric seas. In this study we report δ15N values from high organic matter Middle Ordovician through Late Devonian dysoxic and euxinic basinal sediments. We propose a nitrogen isotope mass balance model that incorporates the microbial ecology of a stratified water column and the biochemical stoichiometry of primary production and organic matter diagenesis. Results from the model support our contention that high rates of N fixation over extended time periods were not the cause of depleted nitrogen isotope values in organic-rich Paleozoic basinal sediments. Rather, the depleted values were a consequence of a diminished role for nitrification and subsequent N loss via denitrification and anammox, and the preferential preservation of a substantially 15N-depleted chlorophyll-influenced lipid fraction. The model may be applicable to earlier and later geological periods where high organic matter sediments feature depleted δ15N values.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.B33I..03T
- Keywords:
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- 0414 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- 0469 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Nitrogen cycling;
- 1041 GEOCHEMISTRY / Stable isotope geochemistry;
- 4900 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY