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Odd new theory explains how earth got oxygen


Claire.

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Odd New Theory Explains How Early Earth Got Its Oxygen

One of the still-unsolved mysteries about Earth's history is how the planet became oxygenated, and breathable, billions of years ago. Now, a new study says the culprit may have been the giant rock slabs that make up the Earth's outer shell.

Read more: Live Science

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I'm confused.  Having credited plants for our being able to breathe, I wonder: Prior to there being oxygen in our atmosphere, what dead creatures were there to have their remains become covered by "giant rock slabs that make up the Earth's outer shell"?

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30 minutes ago, aka CAT said:

I'm confused.  Having credited plants for our being able to breathe, I wonder: Prior to there being oxygen in our atmosphere, what dead creatures were there to have their remains become covered by "giant rock slabs that make up the Earth's outer shell"?

According to the article 

Quote

single-celled creatures started using that carbon dioxide and producing oxygen as a waste product

My question is rather how many of those single-celled creatures we need to make the model work, in order to influence a whole planet's atmosphere. 

Is it feasible? 

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24 minutes ago, Parsec said:

My question is rather how many of those single-celled creatures we need to make the model work, in order to influence a whole planet's atmosphere. 

Is it feasible? 

It's over a 2 billion year period though. 

 

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33 minutes ago, oldrover said:

It's over a 2 billion year period though. 

 

As far as I get it, the Great Oxygenation Event occurred in roughly 900 million years, that's still a mind blowing amount of time, but it's not 2 billion. 

 

But anyway, 1 or 2 billion years aside, it would have meant that a gazillion cyanobacteria have been swallowed by the earth in order to trigger what they theorise. 

Again, maybe it's just my limited imagination, but I find it difficult to fathom such a quantity of bacteria capable of influencing such a huge environment. 

 

But probably it's just a matter of time, as you said. 

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18 minutes ago, Parsec said:

As far as I get it, the Great Oxygenation Event occurred in roughly 900 million years, that's still a mind blowing amount of time, but it's not 2 billion. 

 

But anyway, 1 or 2 billion years aside, it would have meant that a gazillion cyanobacteria have been swallowed by the earth in order to trigger what they theorise. 

Again, maybe it's just my limited imagination, but I find it difficult to fathom such a quantity of bacteria capable of influencing such a huge environment. 

 

But probably it's just a matter of time, as you said. 

I got that a bit wrong, I should have said 1.5 billion years, and I take that from life's first emergence 4 Billion years ago, until the Great Oxygen Event at 2.5 billion. Giving a period of 1.5 billion for the little blue green things to finish getting subducted. 

Anyway I still think it was the British Oxygen Company that started it off. 

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