Phanerozoic cycles of sedimentary carbon and sulfur.

A reservoir model of a Recent steady-state sedimentary system in which the reduced sulfur and oxidized sulfur reservoirs were coupled with the oxidized carbon and reduced carbon reservoirs was constructed. The time curve of the sulfur isotope ratios of the sedimentary sulfate reservoir was used to drive the model back to the beginning of Cambrian time (600 million years ago), producing the reservoir sizes and isotope values and material fluxes of the carbon-sulfur system. The predicted values of carbon isotope ratios of the carbonate reservoir agree well with observed values, showing that the model is basically sound. Some general conclusions from this success are (i) material flux rates in the carbon-oxygen-sulfur system of the geologic past (averaged over tens of millions of years) lie within about a factor of 2 of Recent rates. (ii) The oxidation-reduction balances of Phanerozoic time were dominated by reciprocal relationships between carbon and sulfur compounds. (iii) The rate of production of atmospheric oxygen by storage in sediments of organic carbon of photosynthetic origin increased from the Cambrian Period to the Permian Period and declined somewhat from the Permian Period to the Present. (iv) The storage of oxygen in oxidized sulfur compounds kept pace (within the limits of the data) with oxygen production. (v) Transfer of oxygen from CO(2) to SO(4) from the Cambrian to the Permian Period was several times the Recent free oxygen content of the atmosphere.