An astrobiological exploration of mass dependent and mass independent sulphur isotope fractionation
Bibliographic record
Abstract
In this thesis, I examined multiple sulfur isotopes in two different systems: mass dependent fractionation and mass independent fractionation. Mass dependent sulfur isotopes elucidate low-temperature oxidative processes from pyrite nodules within Miocene lake sediments found in the Haughton impact structure on Devon Island, Nunavut. Mass independent samples are investigated for lithological and geographical controls on the pattern of 33S and 36S anomalies in Mesoarchaean samples from Northwestern Ontario. In mass dependent systems, the distribution of isotopes can be predicted based on the differences in mass of the various isotopes. Published studies of abiotic and biotic sulfur oxidation show negligible fractionation between starting sulfide and resulting sulfates. Pyrite nodules are being oxidized in a polar desert environment to a variety of sulfates including gypsum, jarosite, and schwertmannite. Within individual nodules, fractionation between sulfate and sulfide range from -10.1 to +17.9 ‰. In addition, a two-component mixing between pyrite and bedrock sulfates divides the nodules into three types. The first two are explained by conventional oxidation and mixing; however, most samples cannot be described solely through mixing or oxidation. Measuring large fractionations in sulfide oxidation has implications for the study of 'biosignatures' such that an oxidizing environment, for example the surface of Mars, would be incompatible with the preservation of 'biosignatures'. In samples older than approximately 2.45 billion years, mass independent fractionation is observed in rock samples. These anomalous enrichments or depletions in 33S cannot be predicted solely on mass differences; rather they are attributed to photochemical reactions of SO2 in an oxygen poor atmosphere. Within the Mesoarchaean the magnitude of these anomalous 33S measurements are considerably diminished compared to contiguous time periods. Previous work has focused on changes in atmospheric chemistry to explain these minimum values. By looking at samples from Northwestern Ontario, the effect of lithology and geography are tested. In addition, a sulfur isotope database compiles the literature data. The range of multiple sulfur isotope data is extended as compared to the data from South Africa and Australia; however, the magnitude remains small when compared to adjacent time periods. Nevertheless, the isotope systematics of the Mesoarchaean, with this added dataset, follow the Archaean reference array which has previously not been used for the Mesoarchaean samples. Regarding lithology, chemically and biologically precipitated samples show large variation in anomalous 33S whereas clastic rocks remain close to zero.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".