The timing of the earliest production of oxygen by photosynthesis is hotly debated. Haematite crystals from Pilbara, Australia, may provide evidence for a deep ocean that was at least occasionally oxygenated by photosynthetic microbes 3.46 billion years ago.
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Konhauser, K. Deepening the early oxygen debate. Nature Geosci 2, 241–242 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo484
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo484
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