Coupling of the sedimentary sulfur and carbon cycles; an improved model

Abstract

A model of the geochemical cycles of sulfur and carbon during Phanerozoic time makes it possible to compute the masses of the major sedimentary reservoirs, their fluxes in and out of the ocean, and their isotopic compositions both forward and backward in time. An important conclusion of the model, despite these caveats, is that the exogenic geochemical cycles of carbon and sulfur can be, to a reasonable good first approximation, treated as a closed system. The dominant redox system of the exogenic cycle is the complementary sulfide-sulfate-carbonate-organic carbon relation.\--Modified journal abstract.