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A 200-million-year delay in permanent atmospheric oxygenation
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The rise of atmospheric oxygen fundamentally changed the chemistry of surficial environments and the nature of Earth's habitability 1. Early atmospheric oxygenation occurred over a protracted period of extreme climatic instability marked by multiple global glaciations 2,3, with the initial rise of oxygen concentration to above 10-5 of the present atmospheric level constrained to about 2.43 billion years ago 4,5. Subsequent fluctuations in atmospheric oxygen levels have, however, been reported to have occurred until about 2.32 billion years ago 4, which represents the estimated timing of irreversible oxygenation of the atmosphere 6,7. Here we report a high-resolution reconstruction of atmospheric and local oceanic redox conditions across the final two glaciations of the early Palaeoproterozoic era, as documented by marine sediments from the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Using multiple sulfur isotope and iron-sulfur-carbon systematics, we demonstrate continued oscillations in atmospheric oxygen levels after about 2.32 billion years ago that are linked to major perturbations in ocean redox chemistry and climate. Oxygen levels thus fluctuated across the threshold of 10-5 of the present atmospheric level for about 200 million years, with permanent atmospheric oxygenation finally arriving with the Lomagundi carbon isotope excursion at about 2.22 billion years ago, some 100 million years later than currently estimated.
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“By some estimates, the onset of the GOE was marked by atmospheric O2 levels that were still relatively low and variable (e.g., Poulton et al., 2021).”
From Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as Poulton et al., 2021
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Metadata
- Authors
- Poulton, S. W., Bekker, A., Cumming, V. M., Zerkle, A. L., Canfield, D. E., & Johnston, D. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Poulton, Simon W.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2021-03-29
- Volume
- 592
- Issue
- 7853
- Pages
- 232-236
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W3149564522
- Cited by
- 243
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 27
- FWCI
- 28.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (acceptedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- St Andrews Research Repository (St Andrews Research Repository) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX15AP58G)
- Villum Fonden (00016518)
- Leverhulme Trust
- University of Johannesburg
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Keywords
- atmospheric oxygenation, Great Oxidation, oxygen fluctuations, ocean redox conditions, Transvaal Supergroup, sulfur isotopes, global glaciation, climate instability, marine sediment
- MeSH terms
- Atmosphere, Carbon Isotopes, Carbonates, Climate, Oceans and Seas, Oxidation-Reduction, Oxygen, Seawater, South Africa, Sulfur Isotopes, Time Factors, Ecosystem, Geologic Sediments, History, Ancient
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