ALBERT

Description: The ratio of 18O to 16O in cherts and other chemical sediments has increased by about 15‰ over geological time, but the cause of this increase is debated. Here, we provide a 1D sediment-column model designed to investigate the role of diagenesis, and specifically the heat flow through marine sediments, in setting the chert oxygen isotope ratios. The model simulates the transformation of amorphous silica (opal-A) to crystalline quartz via an intermediate phase by using a silicon mass balance that is driven by the kinetics and thermodynamics of silica phase dissolution and (re)precipitation. The model demonstrates that heat flow through marine sediments influences the rate, and therefore depths, temperatures, and oxygen isotope compositions, at which cherts form. The implication is that because global heat flow from the solid Earth has decreased through geological time, heat flow is an important contributing factor to the long-term trend in chert oxygen isotope composition. The model is provided as a set of Matlab scripts (".m" files) and assorted input datasets provided as standard plain text files. The model is described in full in the manuscript "Chert oxygen isotope ratios are driven by Earth's thermal evolution" by Michael Tatzel, Patrick J. Frings, Marcus Oelze, Daniel Herwartz, Nils K. Lünsdorf, and Michael Wiedenbeck, and in the online Supporting Information associated with the manuscript. Once downloaded and unzipped, the files should be added to the local Matlab search path. The parameters of interest can be changed in the first few lines of 'chertKineticModel.m'. No other files need to be opened or modified. These files have been tested in Matlab R2020a running on Mac OS X 12.2.1 and in Matlab R2022b on Mac OS X 12.6.1.

Description: An interlaboratory comparison (ILC) was organised to characterise 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios in geological and industrial reference materials by applying the so-called conventional method for determining 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios. Four cements (VDZ 100a, VDZ 200a, VDZ 300a, IAG OPC-1), one limestone (IAG CGL ML-3) and one slate (IAG OU-6) reference materials were selected, covering a wide range of naturally occurring Sr isotopic signatures. Thirteen laboratories received aliquots of these six reference materials together with a detailed technical protocol. The consensus values for the six reference materials and their associated measurement uncertainties were obtained by applying a Gaussian, linear mixed effects model fitted to all the measurement results. By combining the consensus values and their uncertainties with an uncertainty contribution for potential heterogeneity, reference values ranging from 0.708134 mol mol-1 to 0.729778 mol mol-1 were obtained with relative expanded uncertainties of ≤ 0.007 %. This study represents an ILC on conventional 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios, within which metrological principles were considered and the compatibility of measurement results obtained by MC-ICP-MS and by MC-TIMS is demonstrated. The materials characterised in this study can be used as reference materials for validation and quality control purposes and to estimate measurement uncertainties in conventional 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio measurement.

Description: The 18O/16O ratio of cherts (δ18Ochert) increases nearly monotonically by ~15‰ from the Archean to present. Two end-member explanations have emerged: cooling seawater temperature (TSW) and increasing seawater δ18O (δ18Osw). Yet despite decades of work, there is no consensus, leading some to view the δ18Ochert record as pervasively altered. Here, we demonstrate that cherts are a robust archive of diagenetic temperatures, despite metamorphism and exposure to meteoric fluids, and show that the timing and temperature of quartz precipitation and thus δ18Ochert are determined by the kinetics of silica diagenesis. A diagenetic model shows that δ18Ochert is influenced by heat flow through the sediment column. Heat flow has decreased over time as planetary heat is dissipated, and reasonable Archean-modern heat flow changes account for ~5‰ of the increase in δ18Ochert, obviating the need for extreme TSW or δ18Osw reconstructions. The seawater oxygen isotope budget is also influenced by solid Earth cooling, with a recent reconstruction placing Archean δ18OSW 5 to 10‰ lower than today. Together, this provides an internally consistent view of the δ18Ochert record as driven by solid Earth cooling over billion-year timescales that is compatible with Precambrian glaciations and biological constraints and satisfyingly accounts for the monotonic nature of the δ18Ochert trend.