Sulfur isotope studies of drill cores from the Barberton Greenstone Belt

该提案要求提供资金，以支持对最近在南非巴伯顿山地进行ICDP钻探时从三个岩心中采集的70个散装样品中的四种硫同位素进行分析。样品包括黑色页岩、浸染状硫化物和燧石和重晶石中的硫化物层。建议的分析将提供这些古太古代（3600至3200万年前）的沉积序列的硫同位素地球化学的第一个一瞥，具有良好的保存状态。这项工作的一个目标是评估存在支持硫的微生物改造的证据的可能性，如果是这样，它为了解海洋中硫的来源和控制硫酸盐浓度提供了什么信息。这项工作的第二个目的将是评估在其他序列中看到的#916; 36 S和#916; 33 S之间的关系变化是否存在于古太古代。该项目是关于这些核心材料硫同位素的广泛国际合作的一部分，涉及PI和乌得勒支大学、Westfälische Wilhelms大学（明斯特，德国）、瑞典自然历史博物馆（斯德哥尔摩，瑞典）和地球仪研究所（巴黎，法国）的科学家。所有这些团体目前要么参与现有的合作，要么计划在巴伯顿钻井项目的保护伞下共同努力。这被认为是一个独特的机会，可以利用共享技术从大约2公里长的沉积岩心中详细研究大量样本，为子项目之间的联合研究和协调提供充足的空间，以产生更重要和更全面的数据集。这项工作至少将在一份主要国际期刊上发表一份联合概览。

This proposal requests funds to support analysis of four sulfur isotopes in 70 bulk samples from three cores collected as part of recent ICDP drilling in the Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa. Samples include black shales, disseminated sulfide and sulfide layers in chert and barite. The proposed analyses will provide a first glimpse into the sulfur isotope geochemistry of these Palaeoarchean era (3600 to 3200 million years ago) sedimentary sequences with an excellent state of preservation. One goal of this work will be to evaluate the possibility that evidence exists supporting microbial reworking of sulfur, and if so, what information it provides for understanding sources of sulfur to and controls on sulfate concentrations in the oceans. A second aim of this work will be to evaluate whether variations in the relationship between Δ36S and Δ33S that are seen in other successions are present in the Paleoarchean. Project is part of a broad international collaboration on sulfur isotopes on these core materials involving the PI, and scientists at University of Utrecht, Westfälische Wilhelms University (Muenster, Germany), the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Stockholm, Sweden) and the Institute de Physique du Globe (Paris, France). All of these groups are currently either involved in existing collaborations or are planning to work together under the umbrella of the Barberton Drilling project. This is seen as a unique opportunity to study a large number of samples using shared techniques at a high level of detail from the approximately 2 km of sedimentary drill core, providing ample room for joint studies and coordination between sub-projects to yield a more significant and comprehensive dataset. At minimum, one joint overview publication in a major international journal will results from this work.