Geological history of oxygen

Short description: none

O2 build-up in the Earth's atmosphere. Red and green lines represent the range of the estimates while time is measured in billions of years ago (Ga).
Stage 1 (3.85–2.45 Ga): Practically no O2 in the atmosphere.
Stage 2 (2.45–1.85 Ga): O2 produced, but absorbed in oceans and seabed rock.
Stage 3 (1.85–0.85 Ga): O2 starts to gas out of the oceans, but is absorbed by land surfaces and formation of ozone layer.
Stages 4 and 5 (0.85 Ga–present): O2 sinks filled, the gas accumulates.[1]

Although oxygen is the most abundant element in Earth's crust, due to its high reactivity it mostly exists in compound (oxide) forms such as water, carbon dioxide, iron oxides and silicates. Before photosynthesis evolved, Earth's atmosphere had little free diatomic elemental oxygen (O2).[2] Small quantities of oxygen were released by geological[3] and biological processes, but did not build up in the reducing atmosphere due to reactions with then-abundant reducing gases such as atmospheric methane and hydrogen sulfide and surface reductants such as ferrous iron.

Oxygen began building up in the prebiotic atmosphere at approximately 2.45 Ga during the Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic boundary, a paleogeological event known as the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE). The concentrations of O2 attained were less than 10% of today's and probably fluctuated greatly. Around 500Mya a second event known as the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event lead to oxygen levels similar or even higher than the present. The increase in oxygen concentrations had wide-ranging and significant impacts on Earth's geochemistry and biosphere. Detailed connections between oxygen and evolution remain elusive.

## Contents

* 1 Importance
* 2 Overview
* 3 Paleo-oxybarometers
* 4 Prebiotic atmosphere
* 5 Great Oxygenation Event
* 6 Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event
* 7 Evolution and oxygen
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 External links

## Importance

Oxygen is both a result of biological activity and a key enabler. Photosynthesis produces oxygen while plants and animals using aerobic respiration consume it. Consequently the evolution of life is closely related to the concentration of available oxygen. Understanding the relationship between oxygen and evolution would aid in seeking evidence of extraterrestrial life in exoplanet data.[4]: 252 Oxygen concentration plays a key role in the geochemical composition of sedimentary rocks, making oxygen concentration important for geology and sedimentary rocks important for understanding oxygen concentration over geologic time.[5]

## Overview

Due to limitations in measurements, oxygen concentration in the atmosphere or oceans over much of the early parts of Earth's history remains controversial.[6] The consensus view includes these phases:

* Earth's atmosphere was initially oxygen free.[7]
* During the Great Oxidation Event, around 2.0-2.5Gya, at the beginning of the Proterozoic eon, oxygen concentrations rose.[6]
* A second rise, called Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event, occurred around 550-850 Mya.[6]
* Today the atmosphere is 21% oxygen.[7]

The timing and character of the oxygenation events have been the subject of many discussions.[6]

## Paleo-oxybarometers

Techniques for estimating oxygen at different times in the past are called "paleo-oxybarometers". An ideal technique would rely on trapped gas or fluid in a well-dated rock layer, but such examples are scarce. Most measurements are indirect analysis of oxidation in sedimentary rocks to infer oxygen in ancient atmosphere or oceans. Ocean analysis is especially challenging because tectonic subduction replaces the ocean floor every 200 million years. Many new techniques have been developed but their analysis and comparison have led to additional debates rather than consensus on the oxygen history of Earth.[8]

## Prebiotic atmosphere

Main article: Earth:Prebiotic atmosphere

Earth's early atmosphere had a very low concentration of oxygen, probably less than 0.001% of present day levels. While details are not well known, measurements of mass-independent fractionation of sulfur in sedimentary sulphides and sulfates rule out significant oxygen before around 2.45Gya.[1] Continuing sources of oxygen during this period would have been photodissociation of water followed by escape the hydrogen product[9] or of sulfur dioxide.[10]

## Great Oxygenation Event

Main article: Earth:Great Oxygenation Event

Between 2.45 and 2 Gya, oxygen began to build up in the atmosphere. This time coincided with major changes in geochemistry and biology on the Earth but which changes are causes and which are results are debated.[1]: 905 Widespread production of oxygen by cyanobacteria which evolved around this time is suggestive, but substantial evidence suggests that cyanobacteria appeared at least 2.7Ga and perhaps well before that. Geological effects like volcanism, weathering, and burial of chemically altered rocks may be important.[11]: 6 Oxygen began to persist in the atmosphere in small quantities about 50 million years before the start of the Great Oxygenation Event.[12] By 800Mya oxygen in the atmosphere was between 1% and 18% of the present atmospheric level.[11]

## Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event

After the Great Oxygenation Event, the Earth entered a long period of euxinia known as the Boring Billion.[citation needed]} Although the atmosphere had become oxidative with the presence of free oxygen, the oxygen level was still very low (about 0.1%) in both the atmosphere and the ocean. By around 600 Mya during the Neoproterozoic, however, oxygen levels began to rise significantly.[13] During the Cambrian, atmospheric oxygen was only 5-10% concentration, around half its current value. It rose in pulses above 15% of the atmosphere during the Devonian "Age of the Fishes", reaching 25% (above modern 20%) in the Permo-Carboniferous.[4] This second great oxygenation event has been reported to be associated with the evolution of nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria,[14] or the rise of more robust eukaryotic photoautotrophs (i.e. algae) via endosymbiosis and increased phosphorus removal from the ocean.[15]

## Evolution and oxygen

Life timeline

This box: view * talk * edit

-4500 --

-4000 --

-3500 --

-3000 --

-2500 --

-2000 --

-1500 --

-1000 --

-500 --

0 --

white;">water

Single-celled
life

green;">photosynthesis

Eukaryotes

Multicellular
life

white;">Arthropods white;">Molluscs</span>]]

white;">Plants

Dinosaurs

Mammals

Flowers

Birds

Primates

Earth (−4540)

Earliest water

Earliest life

Earliest oxygen

Atmospheric oxygen

Oxygen crisis

Sexual reproduction

Earliest plants

Ediacara biota

Cambrian explosion

Tetrapoda

Earliest apes

black;">Pongola

black;">Huronian

black;">Cryogenian

black;">Andean

black;">Karoo

black;">Quaternary

black;">Ice Ages

Clickable

(million years ago)

(See also: Human timeline, and Nature timeline.)

Atmospheric oxygen is the most conspicuous sign of life on Earth. The evolution of photosynthesis and the rise of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria are major events in evolution. Photosynthetic oxygen eventually accumulated in the atmosphere, transforming both the surface of the planet and the nature of life[11]

Despite these connections, the details are not simple. The evolution of life and the geological history of oxygen share many similar patterns, but the relationship between these two histories remains uncertain. For example, the rise in oxygen concencentration and the rise the maximum size of organism have similar histories, but evidence that oxygen concentration limits size is inconclusive. As more evidence for lower and variable levels of oxygen before the Neoproterozoic has emerged, simple relationships between life and oxygen have been harder to justify.[16]

## See also

* Great Oxidation Event
* Neoproterozoic oxygenation event
* Silurian-Devonian Terrestrial Revolution

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Holland, H. D. (2006). "The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 361 (1470): 903–915. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1838. PMID 16754606.
2. ↑ Zimmer, Carl (3 October 2013). "Earth's Oxygen: A Mystery Easy to Take for Granted". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/science/earths-oxygen-a-mystery-easy-to-take-for-granted.html.
3. ↑ Stone, Jordan; Edgar, John O.; Gould, Jamie A.; Telling, Jon (2022-08-08). "Tectonically-driven oxidant production in the hot biosphere" (in en). Nature Communications 13 (1): 4529. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32129-y. ISSN 2041-1723. PMID 35941147. Bibcode: 2022NatCo..13.4529S.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mills, Benjamin J. W.; Krause, Alexander J.; Jarvis, Ian; Cramer, Bradley D. (2023-05-31). "Evolution of Atmospheric O2 Through the Phanerozoic, Revisited" (in en). Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 51: 253–276. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-032320-095425. ISSN 0084-6597. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-earth-032320-095425.
5. ↑ Kendall, Brian (2021-05-30). "Recent Advances in Geochemical Paleo-Oxybarometers" (in en). Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 49 (1): 399–433. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-071520-051637. ISSN 0084-6597. Bibcode: 2021AREPS..49..399K. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-earth-071520-051637.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Large, Ross R.; Mukherjee, Indrani; Gregory, Dan; Steadman, Jeff; Corkrey, Ross; Danyushevsky, Leonid V. (2019). "Atmosphere oxygen cycling through the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic" (in en). Mineralium Deposita 54 (4): 485–506. doi:10.1007/s00126-019-00873-9. ISSN 0026-4598. Bibcode: 2019MinDe..54..485L. http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00126-019-00873-9.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kump, Lee R. (2008-01-17). "The rise of atmospheric oxygen" (in en). Nature 451 (7176): 277–278. doi:10.1038/nature06587. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 18202642. Bibcode: 2008Natur.451..277K. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06587.
8. ↑ Kendall, Brian (2021-05-30). "Recent Advances in Geochemical Paleo-Oxybarometers" (in en). Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 49 (1): 399–433. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-071520-051637. ISSN 0084-6597. Bibcode: 2021AREPS..49..399K. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-earth-071520-051637.
9. ↑ Carver, J. H. (1981). "Prebiotic atmospheric oxygen levels". Nature 292 (5819): 136–138. doi:10.1038/292136a0. ISSN 0028-0836. Bibcode: 1981Natur.292..136C. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/292136a0.
10. ↑ Farquhar, James; Savarino, Joel; Airieau, Sabine; Thiemens, Mark H. (2001). "Observation of wavelength-sensitive mass-independent sulfur isotope effects during SO2 photolysis: Implications for the early atmosphere" (in en). Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 106 (E12): 32829–32839. doi:10.1029/2000JE001437. ISSN 2156-2202. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2000JE001437.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Canfield, D.E. (May 31, 2005). "THE EARLY HISTORY OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN: Homage to Robert M. Garrels" (in en). Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 33 (1): 1–36. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.33.092203.122711. ISSN 0084-6597. Bibcode: 2005AREPS..33....1C. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.earth.33.092203.122711.
12. ↑ Anbar, A.; Duan, Y.; Lyons, T.; Arnold, G.; Kendall, B.; Creaser, R.; Kaufman, A.; Gordon, G. et al. (2007). "A whiff of oxygen before the great oxidation event?". Science 317 (5846): 1903–1906. doi:10.1126/science.1140325. PMID 17901330. Bibcode: 2007Sci...317.1903A.
13. ↑ Och, Lawrence M.; Shields-Zhou, Graham A. (January 2012). "The Neoproterozoic oxygenation event: Environmental perturbations and biogeochemical cycling". Earth-Science Reviews 110 (1–4): 26–57. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.09.004. Bibcode: 2012ESRv..110...26O. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825211001498. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
14. ↑ Sánchez-Baracaldo, Patricia; Ridgwell, Andy; Raven, John A. (17 March 2014). "A Neoproterozoic Transition in the Marine Nitrogen Cycle". Current Biology 24 (6): 652–657. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.041. PMID 24583016. Bibcode: 2014CBio...24..652S.
15. ↑ Lenton, Timothy M.; Boyle, Richard A.; Poulton, Simon W.; Shields-Zhou, Graham A.; Butterfield, Nicholas J. (9 March 2014). "Co-evolution of eukaryotes and ocean oxygenation in the Neoproterozoic era". Nature Geoscience 7 (4): 257–265. doi:10.1038/ngeo2108. Bibcode: 2014NatGe...7..257L. https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2108#citeas. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
16. ↑ Lyons, Timothy W.; Reinhard, Christopher T.; Planavsky, Noah J. (2014). "The rise of oxygen in Earth's early ocean and atmosphere" (in en). Nature 506 (7488): 307–315. doi:10.1038/nature13068. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 24553238. Bibcode: 2014Natur.506..307L. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13068.

## External links

* Lane, Nick (5 February 2010). "First breath: Earth's billion-year struggle for oxygen". New Scientist (2746). https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527461.100-first-breath-earths-billionyear-struggle-for-oxygen.html. * Zimmer, Carl (3 October 2013). "The mystery of Earth's oxygen". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/science/earths-oxygen-a-mystery-easy-to-take-for-granted.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print.
* Ward, Peter D. (2006). Out of Thin Air; dinosaurs, birds, and Earth's ancient atmosphere. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 0-309-10061-5. ; "Review of Out of Thin Air by Peter Ward". New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225780-124-review-out-of-thin-air-by-peter-ward/.

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geological history of oxygen. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Earth:Geological_history_of_oxygen&oldid=4357484"