A Methane-rich Proterozoic Atmosphere: Possible Link to the Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth Glaciations

An enhanced atmospheric greenhouse effect is required throughout Archean and Proterozoic to offset reduced solar luminosity. In the anoxic Archean atmosphere CH4 could have been an important greenhouse gas because of the decreased levels of the primary oxidants - OH, O and H₂O₂. However, after the major transition of the atmospheric oxidation state at 2.0-2.3 Gyr, the photochemical lifetimes of reduced atmospheric gases (like methane) should have been much shorter. Therefore, a common view of the Proterozoic climate suggests that CO₂ was the major greenhouse gas (along with H₂O) and that atmospheric CH4 concentrations were low. Here we argue that substantial methane levels could have been present in the Proterozoic atmosphere if O₂ levels were somewhat lower than today. In agreement with earlier calculations, our 1-D photochemical model shows that the atmospheric methane mixing ratio is a highly nonlinear function of the surface methane flux. In our model, a factor of 10 increase in the methane flux results in a 60-fold increase of the surface methane concentration. 1-D climate calculations show that such a high methane abundance would keep the mean global surface temperature at ~296 K under reduced solar luminosity conditions ( ~17 % decreased solar luminosity at 2.3 Gyr ago), even if CO2 was present only at today's level. Here we propose several reasons why the net methane flux could have been indeed substantially higher in the Proterozoic, compared to the present day. In the modern ecosystem, 99.9 % of methane, produced by methanogens, is being consumed by methanotrophic bacteria. These bacteria would presumably consume much less methane if O₂ levels were lower. Moreover, in the present day sulfate-rich ocean methanogens living in sediments are outcompeted by sulfate reducers and forced to live in the nutrient-poor environments. Methane is also consumed in marine sediments by anaerobic methanotrophs living in consortium with sulfate reducing bacteria. In an anoxic, sulfate-poor Proterozoic ocean net production of methane could have been substantially higher. Towards, the end of the Proterozoic, oceanic sulfate abundances began to increase, as indicated by measurements of trace sulfate minerals in carbonates. The corresponding increase in the abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria should have led to a decrease in methane production, by the arguments given above We propose that the Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth episodes at 750 Ma and 600 Ma may have been triggered by a rise in sulfate and/or O₂ and a corresponding decrease in atmospheric CH₄.