Research
Crystals Indicate Early Earth Was a “Sponge” for Oxygen
Eos · By Tom Metcalfe ·
The Brief
- According to new research reported by Eos, early Earth acted as a geological sponge for oxygen for more than a billion years.
- This buffering lasted until the Great Oxidation Event, which occurred about 2.3 billion years ago.
- Geologists had long suspected that bacteria produced limited amounts of gaseous oxygen before the event.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that oxygen levels in early Earth were controlled by geological processes absorbing it, which affects how scientists interpret when and how Earth's atmosphere became oxygen-rich.
Who’s affected
- geologists and geochemists studying early Earth
- researchers in astrobiology and the history of life
Earth acted as a geological sponge for oxygen for more than a billion years before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) occurred about 2.3 billion years ago, according to new research. Geologists had long suspected that limited amounts of gaseous oxygen were produced by bacteria on…