Abstract
The evolution of non-photosynthetic sulphide-oxidizing bacteria was contemporaneous with a large shift in the isotopic composition of biogenic sedimentary sulphides between 0.64 and 1.05 billion years ago. Both events were probably driven by a rise in atmospheric oxygen concentrations to greater than 5–18% of present levels—a change that may also have triggered the evolution of animals.
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Canfield, D., Teske, A. Late Proterozoic rise in atmospheric oxygen concentration inferred from phylogenetic and sulphur-isotope studies. Nature 382, 127–132 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/382127a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/382127a0
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