NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Content with the tag: “snowball earth

  2. Snowball Earth and the Origin of Photosynthesis


    Using atmospheric chemical models of a Snowball Earth, scientists from NAI’s Alumni Virtual Planetary Laboratory Team show that, during long and severe glacial intervals, a weak hydrological cycle coupled with photochemical reactions involving water vapor would give rise to the sustained production of hydrogen peroxide. The peroxide, upon release from melting ice into the oceans and atmosphere at the end of the snowball event, could mediate global oxidation events. Their results are published in the December 12th issue of...

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  3. 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...

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