A window into transition metal availability in Early Palaeoproterozoic seawater

A window into transition metal availability in Early Palaeoproterozoic seawater | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article A window into transition metal availability in Early Palaeoproterozoic seawater Rosalie Tostevin, Ansahmbom Nke, Rosalind Rickaby, Harilaos Tsikos, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937889/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Metals are required by all life to build metalloproteins, but the metal preferences of the dominant microbes have evolved over geological time. Consistent with this, experiments and models predict that metal availability in anoxic seawater during the Archean and Proterozoic eons (4.0–0.541 billion years ago) would have been radically different to today. Corroborating this in the geological record is challenging because bulk rock geochemistry reflects complex histories. Here we take a novel approach, determining the transition metal content of micron-scale laths of greenalite, a primary Fe(II)-silicate mineral, from the Kuruman Formation of the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Our data provide a high-resolution snapshot of seawater chemistry ~2.46 Ga, and reveal striking compositional differences compared to today: Zn and V were relatively scarce, Ni was similar, Co was enriched, and Mn was highly-enriched. Our data are largely consistent with chemical predictions and overlap with constraints from a range of different geological archives. Ancient seawater was therefore dominated by Fe and Mn, consistent with evidence that early life preferentially utilised these transition metals. Extremely high Mn concentrations could have interfered with cellular homeostasis, as well as disrupting DNA synthesis, potentially driving faster rates of evolution. Earth and environmental sciences/Biogeochemistry/Element cycles Biological sciences/Biochemistry/Metals Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files NkeTransitionMetalavailabilityinEarlyPalaeoproterozoicseawaterSupplementaryInformationfinal.pdf Supplementary information for Nke et al. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5937889","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":415900054,"identity":"e426c3af-02aa-4796-943c-bb6843df6bfc","order_by":0,"name":"Rosalie Tostevin","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABD0lEQVRIie3PMUsDMRTA8XcIvSXQ9QnSfoUchbODnF8lR6BdDhFcHERODi5Lsev1WwiCc0Bwyge4MaVg17hIh6J9LVgQ76huDvlPL4EfLwHw+f5rlu9HhO6viCDCAIJ8S47z3XCIwJ4AcH2AnCo1d+LyDM5DtbRv5fBiUMulhZsE+ko3khNjBij4CBgz0d2sxKu4HkU5vEgIJqKRIGZA5BkYZkHBDKZPdUYP62g4gjYyXqwE/yQynhdrIo/Vlnxo6HRtCxExbdFERFTANaYPtC4Pyt1NM2EmHgou6Ssmmk2IVOY1qtJ7yRBbtoRqUbt10guVsm7Fb9Opkta596TXnzZv+Yp9P4ofNz6fz+f7SxsLsVfvrZ6MjAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2843-7741","institution":"University of Cape Town","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rosalie","middleName":"","lastName":"Tostevin","suffix":""},{"id":415900055,"identity":"59f071cf-83ad-436e-8b5e-2ffa8174ed05","order_by":1,"name":"Ansahmbom Nke","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cape Town","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ansahmbom","middleName":"","lastName":"Nke","suffix":""},{"id":415900056,"identity":"45052cdd-1f6e-43f6-b4cf-3a3b09204b26","order_by":2,"name":"Rosalind Rickaby","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rosalind","middleName":"","lastName":"Rickaby","suffix":""},{"id":415900057,"identity":"9cc5c548-d6bb-4fa9-9ffa-9b1c6e102a51","order_by":3,"name":"Harilaos Tsikos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Patras","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Harilaos","middleName":"","lastName":"Tsikos","suffix":""},{"id":415900058,"identity":"b99e8b15-7fdf-4c18-aed9-dc9a9097e33d","order_by":4,"name":"Paul Mason","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7569-5917","institution":"Utrecht University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paul","middleName":"","lastName":"Mason","suffix":""},{"id":415900059,"identity":"fb8cbe10-3bf8-4116-85e1-24667f334a96","order_by":5,"name":"Xolane Mhlanga","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Mpumalanga","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xolane","middleName":"","lastName":"Mhlanga","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-31 17:05:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937889/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937889/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":77934065,"identity":"4c6092b5-9bb2-43ae-ad9e-519d4ae9a2b6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-07 03:48:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":647833,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"NkeTransitionMetalavailabilityinEarlyPalaeoproterozoicseawaterfinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5937889/v1_covered_5fe9200e-acfd-4013-bb37-c9b8b7823c00.pdf"},{"id":77933856,"identity":"77f8d906-6f91-40d1-b929-3fa73a8fff13","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-07 03:40:56","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":2764728,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary information for Nke et al.","description":"","filename":"NkeTransitionMetalavailabilityinEarlyPalaeoproterozoicseawaterSupplementaryInformationfinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5937889/v1/b958a1d40576d5969501c22a.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"A window into transition metal availability in Early Palaeoproterozoic seawater","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937889/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937889/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Metals are required by all life to build metalloproteins, but the metal preferences of the dominant microbes have evolved over geological time. Consistent with this, experiments and models predict that metal availability in anoxic seawater during the Archean and Proterozoic eons (4.0–0.541 billion years ago) would have been radically different to today. Corroborating this in the geological record is challenging because bulk rock geochemistry reflects complex histories. Here we take a novel approach, determining the transition metal content of micron-scale laths of greenalite, a primary Fe(II)-silicate mineral, from the Kuruman Formation of the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Our data provide a high-resolution snapshot of seawater chemistry ~2.46 Ga, and reveal striking compositional differences compared to today: Zn and V were relatively scarce, Ni was similar, Co was enriched, and Mn was highly-enriched. Our data are largely consistent with chemical predictions and overlap with constraints from a range of different geological archives. Ancient seawater was therefore dominated by Fe and Mn, consistent with evidence that early life preferentially utilised these transition metals. Extremely high Mn concentrations could have interfered with cellular homeostasis, as well as disrupting DNA synthesis, potentially driving faster rates of evolution.","manuscriptTitle":"A window into transition metal availability in Early Palaeoproterozoic seawater","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-03-07 03:40:51","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937889/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7b329662-63ce-44af-a4c3-1c44057562b3","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 7th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":44352293,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Biogeochemistry/Element cycles"},{"id":44352294,"name":"Biological sciences/Biochemistry/Metals"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-07-20T14:38:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-03-07 03:40:51","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5937889","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5937889","identity":"rs-5937889","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}