26
The Precambrian Climate
Yves Goddéris, Gilles Ramstein, and Guillaume Le Hir
More than 88% of the history of the Earth occurred in the
Precambrian. The Precambrian began with the formation of
the Earth 4.6 billion years ago (Ga) and ended 542 million
years ago (International Stratigraphic Chart, www.stratigraphy.org). It is subdivided into two large eons: the
Archean (between 4 and 2.5 Ga) and the Proterozoic (from
2.5 to 0.542 Ga). The International Commission on
Stratigraphy is proposing to add an extra eon, the Hadean,
covering the first 600 million years of the history of our
planet. Notwithstanding, this eon is described as having an
informal status since no pre-Archean rock has been observed
today. In fact, the oldest rocks date back to 4 billion years
ago (U/Pb dating on zircon crystals). These are the Acasta
gneisses in the Slave Province of Canada. The two formal
eons of the Precambrian are subdivided into eras. In particular, the Proterozoic contains three eras: Paleoproterozoic
(2.5–1.6 Ga), Mesoproterozoic (1.6–1.0 Ga) and Neoproterozoic (1.0–0.542 Ga).
Today, we find outcrops from the Archean on all the
continents. Among the largest, two fragments of continents
larger than 0.5 Â 10
6 km
2 were identified: the craters of
Kaapvaal (South Africa) and Pilbara (Australia). They are
dated at about 3.6–2.9 Ga. Finally, the Precambrian has
witnessed several major events in the history of the Earth.
These include the onset of plate tectonics, the emergence of
the biosphere at least 3.5 billion years ago, the rapid
expansion of land surfaces between 3.2 and 2.6 billion years
ago and the growth of the partial pressure of oxygen in the
atmosphere around 2.3 Ga.
Climate Indicators
Little is known about the evolution of the Earth’s climate
during the Precambrian. The number of indicators available
is very limited. Firstly, sedimentological data are difficult to
interpret, given the age of these sediments which have
generally been disarranged. Secondly, paleontological data
are virtually unusable in terms of climate reconstruction.
They are fragmentary and represent only a very simple
monocellular biosphere, which is difficult to relate to any
environmental evolution. Finally, the isotopic data measured
on sediments generally have poorly preserved the original
climate signal, having been very often subjected to
post-deposit perturbations (diagenesis in particular). From a
quantitative perspective, two isotopic signals have been used
with varying degrees of success: d
18 O measured on siliceous
(cherts) sediments since the 1970s (Knauth and Epstein
1976) and, more recently, the d
30 Si ratio measured on the
same cherts (Robert and Chaussidon 2006).
Opal (SiO 2 ) was precipitated massively during the
Archean. The reasons for this level of precipitation are
unknown. It may have been caused by biological activity or
directly abiotically from the silica-saturated ocean. Finally,
this opal may have been produced during the stabilization of
clay minerals on the seabed or may be derived from the
weathering of volcanic glass. It was subsequently subjected
to diagenesis and today appears as siliceous sedimentary
rocks called cherts. The isotopic oxygen (d
18 O) compositions of these cherts show them to be increasingly depleted
in heavy isotopes as we go back in time, reaching a value of
16‰ compared to the international standard SMOW, 3 Ga
ago (Fig. 26.1).
Y. Goddéris (&)
Géoscience Environnement Toulouse, CNRS, Université de
Toulouse III, UMR 5563, Toulouse, France
e-mail: yves.godderis@gmail.com
G. Ramstein
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement,
LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91190
Gif-Sur-Yvette, France
G. Le Hir
Institut de Physique du Globe, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie
Curie, UMR 7154, Paris, France
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
G. Ramstein et al. (eds.), Paleoclimatology, Frontiers in Earth Sciences,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24982-3_26
343
The Precambrian Climate
Yves Goddéris, Gilles Ramstein, and Guillaume Le Hir
More than 88% of the history of the Earth occurred in the
Precambrian. The Precambrian began with the formation of
the Earth 4.6 billion years ago (Ga) and ended 542 million
years ago (International Stratigraphic Chart, www.stratigraphy.org). It is subdivided into two large eons: the
Archean (between 4 and 2.5 Ga) and the Proterozoic (from
2.5 to 0.542 Ga). The International Commission on
Stratigraphy is proposing to add an extra eon, the Hadean,
covering the first 600 million years of the history of our
planet. Notwithstanding, this eon is described as having an
informal status since no pre-Archean rock has been observed
today. In fact, the oldest rocks date back to 4 billion years
ago (U/Pb dating on zircon crystals). These are the Acasta
gneisses in the Slave Province of Canada. The two formal
eons of the Precambrian are subdivided into eras. In particular, the Proterozoic contains three eras: Paleoproterozoic
(2.5–1.6 Ga), Mesoproterozoic (1.6–1.0 Ga) and Neoproterozoic (1.0–0.542 Ga).
Today, we find outcrops from the Archean on all the
continents. Among the largest, two fragments of continents
larger than 0.5 Â 10
6 km
2 were identified: the craters of
Kaapvaal (South Africa) and Pilbara (Australia). They are
dated at about 3.6–2.9 Ga. Finally, the Precambrian has
witnessed several major events in the history of the Earth.
These include the onset of plate tectonics, the emergence of
the biosphere at least 3.5 billion years ago, the rapid
expansion of land surfaces between 3.2 and 2.6 billion years
ago and the growth of the partial pressure of oxygen in the
atmosphere around 2.3 Ga.
Climate Indicators
Little is known about the evolution of the Earth’s climate
during the Precambrian. The number of indicators available
is very limited. Firstly, sedimentological data are difficult to
interpret, given the age of these sediments which have
generally been disarranged. Secondly, paleontological data
are virtually unusable in terms of climate reconstruction.
They are fragmentary and represent only a very simple
monocellular biosphere, which is difficult to relate to any
environmental evolution. Finally, the isotopic data measured
on sediments generally have poorly preserved the original
climate signal, having been very often subjected to
post-deposit perturbations (diagenesis in particular). From a
quantitative perspective, two isotopic signals have been used
with varying degrees of success: d
18 O measured on siliceous
(cherts) sediments since the 1970s (Knauth and Epstein
1976) and, more recently, the d
30 Si ratio measured on the
same cherts (Robert and Chaussidon 2006).
Opal (SiO 2 ) was precipitated massively during the
Archean. The reasons for this level of precipitation are
unknown. It may have been caused by biological activity or
directly abiotically from the silica-saturated ocean. Finally,
this opal may have been produced during the stabilization of
clay minerals on the seabed or may be derived from the
weathering of volcanic glass. It was subsequently subjected
to diagenesis and today appears as siliceous sedimentary
rocks called cherts. The isotopic oxygen (d
18 O) compositions of these cherts show them to be increasingly depleted
in heavy isotopes as we go back in time, reaching a value of
16‰ compared to the international standard SMOW, 3 Ga
ago (Fig. 26.1).
Y. Goddéris (&)
Géoscience Environnement Toulouse, CNRS, Université de
Toulouse III, UMR 5563, Toulouse, France
e-mail: yves.godderis@gmail.com
G. Ramstein
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement,
LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91190
Gif-Sur-Yvette, France
G. Le Hir
Institut de Physique du Globe, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie
Curie, UMR 7154, Paris, France
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
G. Ramstein et al. (eds.), Paleoclimatology, Frontiers in Earth Sciences,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24982-3_26
343