Supplementary data – Mid-Proterozoic Expansion of Passive Margins and Reduction in Volcanic Outgassing Supported Marine Oxygenation and Eukaryogenesis

This archive contains supplementary files and workflows for the paper by Müller, R.D., Dutkiewicz, A., Farkas, J., Loehr, S. and Merdith, A.S, 2025, Mid-Proterozoic Expansion of Passive Margins and Reduction in Volcanic Outgassing Supported Marine Oxygenation and Eukaryogenesis, EPSL, 2025. The analysis is based on a plate model in a mantle reference frame based on the model by Cao et al. (2024), with altered absolute reference frame rotations compared to the original paleomap-based rotations and and various other small changes and bug fixes described here https://zenodo.org/records/17142287. In the GPlately Plate model manager, this model is referred to "Muller2025".

The archive contains:

1) Muller_etal_tectonic_and_carbon_cycles_1.8Ga-present_supp_EPSL2025.xlsx

These are time-dependent tectonic model parameters and model carbon flux data.

2) Videos.zip

An archive with two videos, as follows:

VideoS1_plate_tectonic_reconstructions.mp4. Plate reconstructions with evolving plate boundaries. Reconstructions are shown from 1800 Ma to the present in 1 m.y. intervals. Relative plate motions and plate boundary geometries are from Cao et al. (2024), with plate motions placed in a mantle reference frame. Continents are light grey, with continental margins shown in medium grey (see text for details of continental margin reconstruction). Absolute plate motions are indicated by grey arrows. Subduction zones are toothed black lines underlain by blue-green bands with color saturation corresponding to convergence rate, while mid-ocean ridges are bold grey lines underlain by brown bands with color saturation scaled by spreading rate. Faint warm to cool oceanic background colors indicate reconstructed ocean crust ages from young to old (0-170 m.y.). All ages older than 170 m.y. are shown in faint blue.

VideoS2_MOR_outgassing_crustal_storage.mp4. Oceanic crustal carbon area density and mid-ocean ridge outgassing.  Reconstructions of plates and plate boundaries with annotations and colors as in Video S1. Passive continental margins (continental shelves distal from subduction zones) are marked by thin, light blue lines.  Dark blue to light pink oceanic background colors represent oceanic crustal carbon area density, reflecting the vigour and cumulative effect of hydrothermal circulation in the upper, volcanic portion of the crust as a function of age of the crust and bottom water temperature. The intensity of volcanic carbon outgassing from mid-ocean ridges is shown in red (low) to yellow (high).

3) Solid_Earth_Carbon_Flux_1.8Ga-v1.1.0.zip

An archive of workflows from this github site: https://github.com/EarthByte/Solid_Earth_Carbon_Flux_1.8Ga

4) InputGrids.zip

An archive of model input netcdf grids in 1 million years intervals with 0.1 degree resolution from 0-1800 Ma, in mantle reference frame based on a plate model described here: https://zenodo.org/records/17142287

The input grids include:

CarbonateSediment: Decompacted pelagic carbonate sediment thickness

ContinentalMasks: Binary grids (0, 1) denoting ocean and continental crust

CrustalCarbon: Upper oceanic crustal CO2 (percent)    

SeafloorAge: Seafloor age (my)

SpreadingRate: Full spreading rate (mm/yr)

TotalSediment: Total sediment thickness on ocean crust (m)

5) Plate_carbon_reservoir_grids.zip

An archive of model output netcdf grids of oceanic plate carbon reservoirs in 1 million years intervals with 0.1 degree resolution from 0-1800 Ma, represented as carbon area density in units of tons of carbon per square meter (T/m2). They include: 

Carbonate_Sediment: Carbonate carbon contained in pelagic carbonate sediments

Crust: Crustal carbon contained in the upper volcanic section of the ocean crust              

Lithosphere: Carbon contained in the oceanic mantle lithosphere

Organic_Sediments: Organic carbon contained in sediments on ocean, based on a very simple approximation (see Müller et al., 2024).

Serpentinite: Carbon contained in oceanic altered mantle

All reservoirs are described in detail in Müller et al. (2024).

It should also be noted that it is common for the grids to display small gridding artefacts, which are caused by artefacts produced in the process of gridding oceanic crustal ages. 

References

Cao, X., Collins, A.S., Pisarevsky, S., Flament, N., Li, S., Hasterok, D. and Müller, R.D., 2024. Earth’s tectonic and plate boundary evolution over 1.8 billion years. Geoscience Frontiers, p.101922.

Müller, R.D., Dutkiewicz, A., Zahirovic, S., Merdith, A.S., Scotese, C.R., Mills, B.J., Ilano, L. and Mather, B., 2024. Solid Earth Carbon Degassing and Sequestration Since 1 Billion Years Ago. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25(11), p.e2024GC011713.

Müller, R.D., Dutkiewicz, A., Farkas, J., Loehr, S. and Merdith, A.S., 2025, Mid-Proterozoic Expansion of Passive Margins and Reduction in Volcanic Outgassing Supported Marine Oxygenation and Eukaryogenesis, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.