Early Earth’s oxygenation

Oxygen levels in the ocean increased three times between the early Ediacaran and the early Cambrian, in synchrony with major developments in animal evolution.

Abiotic oxidation of silicate minerals is possible via homolysis of Si–O bonds, with greater efficiency for more felsic minerals, according to an experimental investigation which suggests this process could have produced reactive oxygen species during the Archean.

Emerging sulfur isotope data divides opinion surrounding the Great Oxidation Event. Utilising computational approaches and additional data, Uveges et al. reconcile these disparities, offering a more refined framework of atmospheric oxygenation.

Recycling of sedimentary phosphorus driven by increasing oceanic sulfide availability contributed to the persistent oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere, according to analysis of Archean drill-core samples and biogeochemical modelling

The identification of distinct pyrite-marcasite rosettes in the Doushantuo Formation, South China using microscopy and stable isotope analysis, suggests frequent oxygenation events on the early Ediacaran continental shelves during the emergence of complex life.

Geochemical data from sedimentary rocks in Siberia indicate that members of the soft-bodied Ediacara biota (the earliest macroscopic life on Earth) were tolerant of low-oxygen conditions, suggesting they had the capacity for anaerobic metabolisms.

Iron input into the ocean is a key control on mineral–organic preservation, and therefore the accumulation of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, according to a theoretical model and supported by proxy records for iron phases and cycling.

The co-evolution of oxygenation of the Earth’s atmosphere and lithosphere is still poorly constrained. However, the oxidation state of manganese minerals reveals that the redox state of Earth’s crust responds to changes in atmospheric oxygen following a ~66 million-year time lag.

Arsenic-consuming microbes of the hypersaline Laguna La Brava in Chile may be an analogue for early life during the anoxic conditions of the Archean, according to geochemical and metagenomic analyses of the extant microbial mats