The rise of oxygen in Earth’s early ocean and atmosphere

Lyons, Timothy W.
Reinhard, Christopher T.
Planavsky, Noah J.

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA
² Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
³ School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
⁴ Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA

Received 11 April 2013; accepted 21 January 2014; Published online 19 February 2014

Author Contributions C.T.R. and N.J.P. designed the model for O₂-producing photosynthesis and its relationship to Archaean organic carbon presented in Box 1. C.T.R. and N.J.P. compiled the database, and C.T.R. performed the modelling presented in Box 1. T.W.L. wrote the manuscript with major contributions from C.T.R. and N.J.P.

Nature 506(7488):p 307-315, February 20, 2014. | DOI: 10.1038/nature13068

The rapid increase of carbon dioxide concentration in Earth’s modern atmosphere is a matter of major concern. But for the atmosphere of roughly two-and-half billion years ago, interest centres on a different gas: free oxygen (O₂) spawned by early biological production. The initial increase of O₂ in the atmosphere, its delayed build-up in the ocean, its increase to near-modern levels in the sea and air two billion years later, and its cause-and-effect relationship with life are among the most compelling stories in Earth’s history.