Almayrac
Matthieu
Almayrac
Matthieu
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ArticleHigh precision noble gas measurements of hydrothermal quartz reveal variable loss rate of Xe from the Archean atmosphere(Elsevier, 2022-05-09) Broadley, Michael W. ; Byrne, David J. ; Ardoin, Lisa ; Almayrac, Matthieu ; Bekaert, David V. ; Marty, BernardDetermining the composition of the Archean atmosphere and oceans is vital to understanding the environmental conditions that existed on the surface of the early Earth. The analysis of atmospheric remnants in fluid inclusions trapped in Archean-aged samples has shown that the Xe isotopic signature of the Archean atmosphere progressively evolved via mass-dependent fractionation, arriving at a modern atmospheric composition around the Archean-Proterozoic transition. The mechanisms driving this evolution are however not well constrained, and it is not yet clear whether the evolution proceeded continuously or via episodic bursts. Providing further constraints on the evolution of Xe in the Archean atmosphere is hampered by the limited amounts of atmospheric gas trapped within fluid inclusions during mineral formation, which impacts the precision at which the Archean atmosphere can be determined. Here, we develop a new crush-and-accumulate extraction technique that enables the heavy noble gases (Ar, Kr and Xe) released from crushing large quantities of hydrothermal quartz to be accumulated and analysed to a higher precision than was previously possible. Using this new technique, we re-evaluate the composition of atmospheric gases trapped within fluid inclusions of 3.3 Ga quartz samples from Barberton, South Africa. We find that the Xe isotopic signature is fractionated by +10.3 ± 1.0‰u−1 (2 SE) relative to modern atmosphere, which is within uncertainty of, but slightly lower than, the previous determination of 12.9 ± 2.4‰u−1 for this sample (Avice et al., 2017). We show for the first time that the Kr/Xe ratio measured within Archean quartz samples is enriched in Xe compared to the modern atmosphere, demonstrating that the atmosphere has lost Xe since the Archean. This further reinforces the proposal of atmospheric escape as the primary mechanism for Earth's Xe loss. We further show that the atmospheric Kr/Xe and Xe isotope fractionation recorded in the Barberton quartz at 3.3 Ga is incompatible with a model describing atmospheric loss at a continuous rate under a constant fractionation factor. This gives credence to numerical models of hydrodynamic escape, which suggest that Xe was lost from the Archean atmosphere in episodic bursts rather than at a constant rate. Refining the evolution curve of atmospheric Xe isotopes using the new technique presented here has the potential to shed light on discrete atmospheric events that punctuated the evolution of the Archean Earth and accompanied the evolution of life.
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ArticlePossible discontinuous evolution of atmospheric xenon suggested by Archean barites(Elsevier, 2021-06-25) Almayrac, Matthieu ; Broadley, Michael W. ; Bekaert, David V. ; Hofmann, Axel ; Marty, BernardThe Earth's atmosphere has continually evolved since its formation through interactions with the mantle as well as through loss of volatile species to space. Atmospheric xenon isotopes show a unique and progressive evolution during the Archean that stopped around the Archean-Proterozoic transition. The Xe isotope composition of the early atmosphere has been previously documented through the analysis of fluid inclusions trapped within quartz and barite. Whether this evolution was continuous or not is unclear, requiring additional analyses of ancient samples, which may potentially retain remnants of the ancient atmosphere. Here we present new argon, krypton and xenon isotopic data from a suite of Archean and Proterozoic barites ranging in age from 3.5 to 1.8 Ga, with the goal of providing further insights in to the evolution of atmospheric Xe, whilst also outlining the potential complications that can arise when using barites as a record of past atmospheres. Xenon released by low temperature pyrolysis and crushing of two samples which presumably formed around 2.8 and 2.6 Ga show Xe isotope mass dependent fractionation (MDF) of 11‰.u−1 and 3.4‰.u−1, respectively, relative to modern atmosphere. If trapped Xe is contemporaneous with the respective formation age, the significant difference in the degree of fractionation between the two samples provides supporting evidence for a plateau in the MDF-Xe evolution between 3.3 Ga and 2.8 Ga, followed by a rapid evolution at 2.8–2.6 Ga. This sharp decrease in MDF-Xe degree suggests the potential for a discontinuous temporal evolution of atmospheric Xe isotopes, which could have far reaching implications regarding current physical models of the early evolution of the Earth's atmosphere.
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ArticleAn evaluation of the C/N ratio of the mantle from natural CO2-rich gas analysis: Geochemical and cosmochemical implications(Elsevier, 2020-12-01) Marty, Bernard ; Almayrac, Matthieu ; Barry, Peter H. ; Bekaert, David V. ; Broadley, Michael W. ; Byrne, David J. ; Ballentine, Christopher J. ; Caracausi, AntonioThe terrestrial carbon to nitrogen ratio is a key geochemical parameter that can provide information on the nature of Earth's precursors, accretion/differentiation processes of our planet, as well as on the volatile budget of Earth. In principle, this ratio can be determined from the analysis of volatile elements trapped in mantle-derived rocks like mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), corrected for fractional degassing during eruption. However, this correction is critical and previous attempts have adopted different approaches which led to contrasting C/N estimates for the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) (Marty and Zimmermann, 1999; Bergin et al., 2015). Here we consider the analysis of CO2-rich gases worldwide for which a mantle origin has been determined using noble gas isotopes in order to evaluate the C/N ratio of the mantle source regions. These gases experienced little fractionation due to degassing, as indicated by radiogenic 4He / 40Ar* values (where 4He and 40Ar* are produced by the decay of U+Th, and 40K isotopes, respectively) close to the mantle production/accumulation values. The C/N and C/3 He ratios of gases investigated here are within the range of values previously observed in oceanic basalts. They point to an elevated mantle C/N ratio (∼350-470, molar) higher than those of potential cosmochemical accretionary endmembers. For example, the BSE C/N and 36 Ar / N ratios (160-220 and 75 x 10-7, respectively) are higher than those of CM-CI chondrites but within the range of CV-CO groups. This similarity suggests that the Earth accreted from evolved planetary precursors depleted in volatile and moderately volatile elements. Hence the high C / N composition of the BSE may be an inherited feature rather than the result of terrestrial differentiation. The C / N and 36 Ar / N ratios of the surface (atmosphere plus crust) and of the mantle cannot be easily linked to any known chondritic composition. However, these compositions are consistent with early sequestration of carbon into the mantle (but not N and noble gases), permitting the establishment of clement temperatures at the surface of our planet.