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Biogeochemistry

Early phosphorus redigested

Atmospheric oxygen was maintained at low levels throughout huge swathes of Earth's early history. Estimates of phosphorus availability through time suggest that scavenging from anoxic, iron-rich oceans stabilized this low-oxygen world.

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Figure 1: Reconstructions of oxygen, phosphorus and ocean redox conditions through time.

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Correspondence to Simon W. Poulton.

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Poulton, S. Early phosphorus redigested. Nature Geosci 10, 75–76 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2884

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