Photo (right) of banded iron formation of the Nagaunee Formation, Near Marquette, Upper Peninsula, Michigan.
Photo (right) of banded iron formation of the Nagaunee Formation, Near Marquette, Upper Peninsula, Michigan. |
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| The evolution of the early oceans: |
| One of my ongoing research project includes the chemical and biological evolution of the Earth's early oceans with Dr. Peir Pufahl at Acadia University, Nova Scotia. Ocean primary productivity is limited by concentrations of nutrient elements such as phosphorus. This bioessential element is rarely preserved in discrete minerals except where ocean productivity is extreme because phosphorus is continuously recycled in the oceans primarily by bacteria. Bacteria also appear to be involved the fixing of phosphorus in minerals on the seafloor; however, the nature of the bacterial communities, biological processes involved and mineralization is not well understood. We are currently exploring this geological / biological interface with Acadia graduate students Gabe Nelson, Cole Edwards, and Sara Akin. |
Related Publications and Presentations:
Pufahl, P.K., Hiatt, E.E., Kyser, T.K., 2011, Does the Paleoproterozoic Animikie Basin record the sulfidic ocean transition? REPLY: Geology, in press.
Zentmeyer, R.A., Pufahl, P.K., James. N.P., & Hiatt, E.E., 2011, The Denault Formation, Labrador Trough: synsedimentary gypsum and dolomite along a Paleoproterozoic ramp: Sedimentary Geology, in press.
Pufahl, P.K., Hiatt, E.E., Kyser, T.K., 2010, Does the Paleoproterozoic Animikie Basin record the sulfidic ocean transition?: Geology, v. 38, p. 659-662.
Nelson, G.J., Pufahl, P.K., and Hiatt, E.E., 2010, Paleoceanographic constraints on Precambrian phosphorite accumulation, Baraga Group, Michigan, USA: Sedimentary Geology, v. 226, p. 9-21.
Hiatt, E.E., 2010, Phosphogenesis in epicontinental and marginal sedimentary basins: problems with using the modern as an analog for the ancient rock record: SIMEXMIN 2010 - Joint Meeting between the Society of Economic Geologists and The Agency for the Technological Development of the Brazilian Mining Industry, Ouro Preto, Brazil, in press. * Invited presentation.
Hiatt, E.E., Pufahl, P.K., and Edwards, C.T., 2010, The role of early life in the Proterozoic phosphorus cycle: evidence from the Baraga Group, Michigan: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v. 42, no. 5, p. 560-561.
Edwards, C.T., Pufahl, P.K. and Hiatt, E.E., 2010, Fossil Microbial Communities Preserved Within Chemical Sediments of the Ferriman Group, Labrador Trough, Canada: GeoCanada GAC-MAC Joint Assembly Meeting, Calgary..
Pufahl, P.K., Hiatt, E.E., Stanley, C.R., Morrow, J.R., Nelson, G.J., Edwards, C.T., 2007, Proximal to Distal Ejecta in the Baraga Group, Michigan: Physical and Chemical Evidence of the 1850 Ma Sudbury Impact Event: Geology, v. 35, no. 9, p. 827–830.
Edwards, C.T., Hiatt, E.E., Pufahl, P.K., 2007, Preserved fossil bacteria in the earliest marine phosphorite deposits: 1.85 billion year-old Baraga Group, Michigan: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, p. 409.
Nelson, G.J., Pufahl, P.K.1, and Hiatt, E.E., 2007, Shallow-water phosphorite accumulation in the Paleoproterozoic Baraga Group, Michigan, USA: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, p. 310.
Zentmyer, R.A., James, N.P., Pufahl, P.K, Hiatt, E.E., 2007, Restricted Paleoproterozic basin: a candidate environment for synsedimentary dolomite precipitation?: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, p. 420.
Pufahl, P.K., Hiatt, E.E., Stanley, C.R., Nelson, G.J., and Edwards, C.T., 2006, The iron formation to phosphorite oceanographic transition: a diachronous event along the Nuna continental margin as recorded in the 1.8 billion year old Baraga Group, Michigan, and Ferriman Group, Labrador: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, p. 57.
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