Biogeochemical modeling of Lake Matano, a modern analogue to Archean and Paleoproterozoic oceans.

Abstract

The oceans from the Archean to the Paleoproterozoic were significantly different from their present counterparts, hosting reducing environments rich in dissolved iron. Understanding the biogeochemical cycles in these ancient marine environments can be aided by studying modern analogous lakes. Lake Matano in Indonesia is one such modern analogue characterized by its stratification throughout the year and its ferruginous deep water. We aim to elucidate the biogeochemical cycles in the Archean to Proterozoic oceans using numerical modeling, and we validate our model using data from the modern analogues. In this presentation, we show that our vertical one-dimensional model can reproduce many of the biogeochemical observational data from Lake Matano. Furthermore, we discuss the limiting factors of primary productivity in the lake using our model.