It Didn’t Take Long For Earth’s Ancient Oceans To Become Oxygenated

The Great Oxygenation Event is one of the defining events in Earth's history. Only once free oxygenation accumulated in the atmosphere and oceans could complex, multicellular organisms appear. Image Credit: By Reto Stöckli and Robert Simmon. Data and technical support: MODIS Land Group; MODIS Science Data Support Team; MODIS Atmosphere Group; MODIS Ocean GroupAdditional data: USGS EROS Data Center (topography); USGS Terrestrial Remote Sensing Flagstaff Field Center (Antarctica); Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights). - https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=306260

For roughly two billion years of Earth’s early history, the atmosphere contained no oxygen, the essential ingredient required for complex life. Oxygen began building up in the atmosphere during the period known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), but it had to enter the oceans first. When and how it first entered the oceans has remained uncertain.

Universe Today
Go to Source

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.