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Assessing the effects of ultraviolet radiation on the photosynthetic potential in Archean marine environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2016

Dailé Avila-Alonso ,
Jan M. Baetens ,
Rolando Cardenas  and
Bernard De Baets
Dailé Avila-Alonso*
Affiliation:
Planetary Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, Universidad Central ‘Marta Abreu’ de Las Villas, Camajuani Road, 51/2 Km, Postal Code 54830, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba KERMIT, Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Jan M. Baetens
Affiliation:
KERMIT, Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Rolando Cardenas
Affiliation:
Planetary Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, Universidad Central ‘Marta Abreu’ de Las Villas, Camajuani Road, 51/2 Km, Postal Code 54830, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba
Bernard De Baets
Affiliation:
KERMIT, Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
*
e-mail: davila@uclv.cu
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Abstract

In this work, the photosynthesis model presented by Avila et al. in 2013 is extended and more scenarios inhabited by ancient cyanobacteria are investigated to quantify the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on their photosynthetic potential in marine environments of the Archean eon. We consider ferrous ions as blockers of UV during the Early Archean, while the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a is used to quantify the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by photosynthetic organisms. UV could have induced photoinhibition at the water surface, thereby strongly affecting the species with low light use efficiency. A higher photosynthetic potential in early marine environments was shown than in the Late Archean as a consequence of the attenuation of UVC and UVB by iron ions, which probably played an important role in the protection of ancient free-floating bacteria from high-intensity UV radiation. Photosynthetic organisms in Archean coastal and ocean environments were probably abundant in the first 5 and 25 m of the water column, respectively. However, species with a relatively high efficiency in the use of light could have inhabited ocean waters up to a depth of 200 m and show a Deep Chlorophyll Maximum near 60 m depth. We show that the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, both UV and visible light, could have determined the vertical distribution of Archean marine photosynthetic organisms.

Keywords

Archean eonchlorophyll amarine environmentsphotosynthetic potentialultraviolet radiation
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 2017 , pp. 271 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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