Pyrite: a deep-time capsule of ocean chemistry and atmosphere oxidation

令人惊讶的是，人们对过去海洋中的微量元素趋势知之甚少，尽管这些数据对于解释地球大气的演变、海洋生物的进化路径和主要矿藏的循环至关重要。利用激光对深海岩石中沉积黄铁矿的分析，该项目的目标是首次绘制过去35亿年来海水中25种微量元素的时间变化曲线。初步研究已经验证了这项技术，并证明了某些微量元素在地质上很短的时间内发生了重大变化。这些成果将有助于矿业在澳大利亚发现新的锌、铜、金和铁矿石矿藏。

Surprisingly little is known about trace element trends in past oceans, even though these data are vital for interpreting the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere, evolutionary pathways of marine life and cycles of major mineral deposits. Using laser-based analysis of sedimentary pyrite in deep marine rocks, this project aims to produce, for the first time, temporal variation curves for 25 trace elements in seawater over the last 3.5 billion years. Preliminary research has validated the technique and demonstrated major changes in certain trace elements over geologically short periods. Outcomes will assist the minerals industry in the discovery of new deposits of zinc, copper, gold and iron ore in Australia.