Noah J Planavsky, Dan Asael, Axel Hofman, Christopher T Reinhard, Stefan V Lalonde, Andrew Knudsen, Xiangli Wang, Frantz Ossa Ossa, Ernest Pecoits, Albertus JB Smith, Nicolas J Beukes, Andrey Bekker, Thomas M Johnson, Kurt O Konhauser, Timothy W Lyons, Olivier J Rouxel

2014/3/24

Nature Geoscience

7

4

283-286

Nature Publishing Group

The early Earth was characterized by the absence of oxygen in the ocean–atmosphere
system, in contrast to the well-oxygenated conditions that prevail today. Atmospheric
concentrations first rose to appreciable levels during the Great Oxidation Event, roughly 2.5–
2.3 Gyr ago. The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis is generally accepted to have been
the ultimate cause of this rise, but it has proved difficult to constrain the timing of this
evolutionary innovation. The oxidation of manganese in the water column requires ...