Bistability of atmospheric oxygen and the Great Oxidation

Goldblatt, Colin; Lenton, Timothy M.; Watson, Andrew J.

doi:10.1038/nature05169

Cited by 270 publications

(263 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Any viable explanation for stepwise oxygen evolution must involve a fundamental change in the way the Earth system operates; perturbations, even massive organic carbon burial events, bolide impacts, or flood basalt eruptions, in themselves cannot effect permanent change in Earth's surface environment [unless the system is bistable (25,26); the persistently anoxic Archean suggests that bistability, if it existed, developed as a result of secular evolution]. Temporal trends in solar luminosity, heat flow, and the supply of reductant from Earth's interior can drive the Earth system through thresholds, leading to stepwise change.…”

Section: Hypothesis For the Stepwise Oxygenation Of The Atmospherementioning

confidence: 99%

Hypothesized link between Neoproterozoic greening of the land surface and the establishment of an oxygen-rich atmosphere

Kump

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Significance The evolution of the biota and of atmospheric composition have been tightly coupled throughout Earth history. Of key importance has been the establishment of an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and this has apparently occurred in two major steps. The second step occurred during the Neoproterozoic, at the time when various lines of evidence suggest a significant expansion of terrestrial life and soil development. The present paper links these two events in a unique way, not through increased oxygen production on land, but through increased consumption in biotic soils that until compensated by higher atmospheric oxygen levels, restricted the supply of oxygen to the weathering environment.

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Section: Hypothesis For the Stepwise Oxygenation Of The Atmospherementioning

confidence: 99%

Hypothesized link between Neoproterozoic greening of the land surface and the establishment of an oxygen-rich atmosphere

Kump

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…It is generally thought that the onset of the GOE was a singular event (2), an assumption rooted in the perceived bistability of atmospheric oxygen (3). However, this inferred bistability in oxygen was challenged through additional modeling (4), allowing for multiple oscillations in atmospheric oxygen during the onset of the GOE.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing and tempo of the Great Oxidation Event

Gumsley

Chamberlain

Bleeker

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

425

274

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The first significant buildup in atmospheric oxygen, the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), began in the early Paleoproterozoic in association with global glaciations and continued until the end of the Lomagundi carbon isotope excursion ca. 2,060 Ma. The exact timing of and relationships among these events are debated because of poor age constraints and contradictory stratigraphic correlations. Here, we show that the first Paleoproterozoic global glaciation and the onset of the GOE occurred between ca. 2,460 and 2,426 Ma, ∼100 My earlier than previously estimated, based on an age of 2,426 ± 3 Ma for Ongeluk Formation magmatism from the Kaapvaal Craton of southern Africa. This age helps define a key paleomagnetic pole that positions the Kaapvaal Craton at equatorial latitudes of 11°± 6°at this time. Furthermore, the rise of atmospheric oxygen was not monotonic, but was instead characterized by oscillations, which together with climatic instabilities may have continued over the next ∼200 My until ≤2,250-2,240 Ma. Ongeluk Formation volcanism at ca. 2,426 Ma was part of a large igneous province (LIP) and represents a waning stage in the emplacement of several temporally discrete LIPs across a large low-latitude continental landmass. These LIPs played critical, albeit complex, roles in the rise of oxygen and in both initiating and terminating global glaciations. This series of events invites comparison with the Neoproterozoic oxygen increase and Sturtian Snowball Earth glaciation, which accompanied emplacement of LIPs across supercontinent Rodinia, also positioned at low latitude.Great Oxidation Event | Snowball Earth | Paleoproterozoic |

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“…sufficient reductant, even the modern O 2 flux could coexist with an anaerobic atmosphere (Claire et al, 2006;Goldblatt et al, 2006;Zahnle et al, 2006).…”

Section: Zcc06mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sink or loss term, on the other hand, is rather complicated: a wide variety of geochemical pathways exist for oxygen reduction, involving many atmospheric and mineral reaction partners. Fortunately, the loss of molecular oxygen from the Archean atmosphere has been the subject of several recent, detailed modeling studies (Pavlov and Kasting, 2002;Claire et al, 2006;Goldblatt et al, 2006;Zahnle et al, 2006), which provide valuable constraints on how the composition of the atmosphere might evolve given a biogenic O 2 flux.…”

Section: The Emergence Of Oxygenic Photosynthesis: Wildfire or Slow Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular biogeochemistry of modern and ancient marine microbes

Waldbauer¹

2010

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Biological activity has shaped the surface of the earth in numerous ways, but life's most pervasive and persistent global impact has been the secular oxidation of the surface environment. Through primary production -the biochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to synthesize biomass -large amounts of oxidants such as molecular oxygen, sulfate and ferric iron have accumulated in the ocean, atmosphere and crust, fundamentally altering the chemical environment of the earth's surface. This thesis addresses aspects of the role of marine microorganisms in driving this process. In the first section of the thesis, biomarkers (hydrocarbon molecular fossils) are used to investigate the early history of microbial diversity and biogeochemistry. Molecular fossils from the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa, document the presence in the oceans of a diverse microbiota, including eukaryotes, as well as oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic biochemistry, by ca. 2.7Ga. Experimental study of the oxygen requirements of steroid biosynthesis suggests that sterane biomarkers in late Archean rocks are consistent with the persistence of microaerobic surface ocean environments long before the initial oxygenation of the atmosphere. In the second part, using Prochlorococcus (a marine cyanobacterium that is the most abundant primary producer on earth today) as a model system, we explored how microbes use the limited nutrient resources available in the marine environment to make the protein catalysts that enable primary production. Quantification of the Prochlorococcus proteome over the diel cell-division cycle reveals that protein abundances are distinct from transcript-level dynamics, and that small temporal shifts in enzyme levels can redirect metabolic fluxes. This thesis illustrates how molecular techniques can contribute to a systems-level understanding of biogeochemical processes, which will aid in reconstructing the past of, and predicting future change in, earth surface environments. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI have incurred many debts of gratitude and appreciation over the course of this work. None are greater than those to my advisors, Penny Chisholm and Roger Summons, who allowed and enabled me to pursue such a wide range of scientific interests and offered their help and advice every step of the way. I have been very lucky to have had the chance to learn so much during my Ph.D., and none of that would have been possible without their guidance and support.I have also had the great fortune to know and work with all the members of the Chisholm and Summons labs, who have made this an enjoyable and rewarding place to be. I am especially grateful to Laura Sherman for her skill and dedication in analyzing biomarkers in the late Archean cores -it was truly getting blood from a stone. I was lucky to collaborate with Sébastien Rodrigue, whose expertise and collegiality made the diel experiment even more fruitful than I could have hoped. IntroductionThe coevolution of life and earth surface environments is central to the history and functionin...

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Bistability of atmospheric oxygen and the Great Oxidation

Cited by 270 publications

References 30 publications

Hypothesized link between Neoproterozoic greening of the land surface and the establishment of an oxygen-rich atmosphere

Hypothesized link between Neoproterozoic greening of the land surface and the establishment of an oxygen-rich atmosphere

Timing and tempo of the Great Oxidation Event

Molecular biogeochemistry of modern and ancient marine microbes

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