For decades, scientists have studied iron preserved in ancient rocks to reconstruct how Earth’s oceans and atmosphere became rich in oxygen. A new study suggests iron has recorded other major transformations too.
Michigan State University researcher Dalton Hardisty and colleagues found that changes in Earth’s iron record also reflect the building of mountains and the rise of land plants.
This discovery offers scientists a more nuanced way to interpret more than a billion years of Earth’s history — and could offer clues to how a warming climate will reshape the planet. The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The iron cycle has new things to tell us,” said Hardisty, the MSU endowed assistant professor of global change processes and coauthor on the study. “The record may reflect the delivery of iron from land, telling us more about changes of Earth’s surface, weathering processes and land plants.”