Ancient ocean chemistry: Effects of biological oxygen production 100 million years before oxygen accumulated in atmosphe
Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 13:35
in Earth & Climate
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists widely accept that around 2.4 billion years ago, the Earth's atmosphere underwent a dramatic change when oxygen levels rose sharply. Called the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE), the oxygen spike marks an important milestone in Earth's history, the transformation from an oxygen-poor atmosphere to an oxygen-rich one paving the way for complex life to develop on the planet.