NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Content with the tag: “great oxidation event

  2. Oxygen in Earth's Atmosphere Before Great Oxidation Event


    NAI’s Astrobiology Drilling Program supported researchers in 2004 to obtain subsurface core samples from the Hamersley Basin in Western Australia. Those samples, representing the time just before the Great Oxidation Event, have been analyzed, and two research papers detailing the results (Anbar, et al. and Kaufman, et al.) appear in September 28, 2007 issue of Science. Both groups found unexpected, correlated changes that reveal the presence of small but significant amounts of O2 in the environment 2.5 billion years...

    Read More

    Tags , , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  3. Biogeochemistry and Oxygenic Photosynthesis


    Researchers from NAI’s University of Colorado, Boulder Team recently reported in Earth and Planetary Science Letters their new biogeochemical model relating to the Great Oxidation Event. With ion microprobe data for individual sulfides from water-lain sedimentary units in the 2.45–2.22 Ga Huronian Supergroup, the team proposes a new model where enhanced weathering rates during interglacial thawing stimulated blooms of oxygenic photosynthesis, the demise of methane, and ultimately the irreversible rise in atmospheric oxygen between the first and second Huronian...

    Read More

    Tags , , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  4. Earlier Evolution of Oxygenic Photosynthesis - Surviving Snowball Earth


    Roger Buick from NAI’s University of Washington Team and his colleagues report in the current issue of Geology their analysis of oil-bearing fluid inclusions in 2.45 billion year old rocks from Canada. They assert that the oil is derived from an overlying formation, becoming trapped in the host rock before 2.2 billion years ago – prior to the Great Oxidation Event. Abundant biomarkers for cyanobacteria and eukaryotes were identified in the study, suggesting that aqueous environments at the time...

    Read More

    Tags , , , , , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  1. Tell us what you think!


    It's your Astrobiology Program: please help us out by sending comments on what's here, and ideas for new features.

Page Feedback

Email (optional)
Comment
Tags