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. 1993 Oct 22:262:555-7.
doi: 10.1126/science.11539502.

3.4-Billion-year-old biogenic pyrites from Barberton, South Africa: sulfur isotope evidence

H Ohmoto  1 , T Kakegawa, D R Lowe
Collaborators, Affiliations

3.4-Billion-year-old biogenic pyrites from Barberton, South Africa: sulfur isotope evidence

H Ohmoto et al. Science. .

Abstract

Laser ablation mass spectroscopy analyses of sulfur isotopic compositions of microscopic-sized grains of pyrite that formed about 3.4 billion years ago in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, show that the pyrite formed by bacterial reduction of seawater sulfate. These data imply that by about 3.4 billion years ago sulfate-reducing bacteria had become active, the oceans were rich in sulfate, and the atmosphere contained appreciable amounts (>>10(-13) of the present atmospheric level) of free oxygen.

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