The Influence of the Biological Pump on Marine Redox Conditions During Earth History

Abstract:

Evidence for bottom-water anoxia on the continental shelves waned over the course of the Phanerozoic, which may be influenced by secular changes in the biological pump that led to weaker positive feedbacks within the oceans. The biological pump describes the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean, which creates vertical gradients in nutrients and oxygen, both important influences in the structure of marine ecosystems. We used the cGENIE Earth system model to quantitatively test the hypothesis that reductions in the efficiency of the nutrient recycling loop of the biological pump during the past 550 Ma reduced the extent of anoxia on the shelves and acted as an important control on marine animal ecosystems. When the modeled remineralization depth is shallow relative to the modern ocean, anoxia tends to be more widespread at continental shelf depths. As the modeled remineralization depth increases toward modern conditions, anoxia is less prevalent and occurs at depths below the continental shelves. Reduced marine productivity in the closed system configuration of cGENIE cannot produce the frequent bottom-water anoxia conditions envisioned for the Paleozoic. We hypothesize that evidence for greater animal abundance and metabolic demand during the Phanerozoic was driven by progressive oxygenation of shelf environments related to changes in the biological pump rather than greater food availability. In general, these model simulations suggest changes in the depth distribution of organic carbon remineralization may have controlled observed shifts in ocean chemistry, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystem structure during the Phanerozoic.