Coping with low ocean sulfate
Coping with low ocean sulfate
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应对海洋硫酸盐含量低的问题
作者：
Ueno;Y
硫酸盐 (SO42−) 是现代海洋中仅次于氯化物的第二丰富的阴离子。它是硫酸盐还原原核生物（SRP）的一种易于获取的能源，这些原核生物常见于富含有机物的沉积物中，在有机物的分解中发挥着重要作用。在太古宙（25亿年前），当时大气和海洋中几乎不存在分子氧时，这些微生物是否是生态系统中的主要参与者？情况是否如此取决于太古宙海洋中硫酸盐的含量。本期 (-) 中的三篇文章使用稳定硫同位素比率的精确测量来研究太古代海洋中硫酸盐的含量以及硫酸盐的起源。
Sulfate (SO42−) is the second-most abundant anion after chloride in the modern ocean. It serves as an easily accessible energy source for sulfate-reducing prokaryotes (SRPs), which are commonly found in organic-rich sediments and play an important role in the decomposition of organic matter. Were these microbes major players in ecosystems during the Archean (before 2.5 billion years ago), when molecular oxygen was virtually absent from both the atmosphere and oceans? Whether this was the case depends on how much sulfate there was in the Archean ocean. Three articles in this issue (–) use precise measurements of stable sulfur isotope ratios to investigate how much sulfate there was in the Archean ocean and where that sulfate originated.