The DOI matches its Crossref record; 79 of the 79 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Paleoproterozoic snowball Earth: A climate disaster triggered by the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis
Open accessAbstract
Although biomarker, trace element, and isotopic evidence have been used to claim that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved by 2.8 giga-annum before present (Ga) and perhaps as early as 3.7 Ga, a skeptical examination raises considerable doubt about the presence of oxygen producers at these times. Geological features suggestive of oxygen, such as red beds, lateritic paleosols, and the return of sedimentary sulfate deposits after a approximately 900-million year hiatus, occur shortly before the approximately 2.3-2.2 Ga Makganyene "snowball Earth" (global glaciation). The massive deposition of Mn, which has a high redox potential, practically requires the presence of environmental oxygen after the snowball. New age constraints from the Transvaal Supergroup of South Africa suggest that all three glaciations in the Huronian Supergroup of Canada predate the Snowball event. A simple cyanobacterial growth model incorporating the range of C, Fe, and P fluxes expected during a partial glaciation in an anoxic world with high-Fe oceans indicates that oxygenic photosynthesis could have destroyed a methane greenhouse and triggered a snowball event on time-scales as short as 1 million years. As the geological evidence requiring oxygen does not appear during the Pongola glaciation at 2.9 Ga or during the Huronian glaciations, we argue that oxygenic cyanobacteria evolved and radiated shortly before the Makganyene snowball.
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“In addition, the relative timing of the GOE and the Snowball Earth glaciation represented by the Makganyene diamictite in the Griqualand West Basin in South Africa (56) also remains uncertain.”
From Rapid oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago (2016) · cites this paper as [56]
In the citing paper
“Multiple layers of diamictite have been observed in Canada (Huronian Supergroup), South Africa (Transvaal Supergroup), and Australia (Turee Creek Group), suggesting that a series of glaciations took place between 2.45 and 2.2 Ga (56, 64), the timeframe in which the GOE also occurred.”
From Rapid oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago (2016) · cites this paper as [56]
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“Because CH4 is a strong greenhouse gas, the substantial decrease of pCH4 could have led to the Paleoproterozoic “Snowball Earth” glaciation (56, 65).”
From Rapid oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago (2016) · cites this paper as [56]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kopp, R. E., Kirschvink, J. L., Hilburn, I. A., & Nash, C. Z.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2005-08
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 32
- Pages
- 11131-11136
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC1183582
- OpenAlex
- W2145815106
- Cited by
- 565
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 25.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- 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 › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Keywords
- Snowball Earth, oxygenic photosynthesis, cyanobacteria, Transvaal Supergroup, Huronian Supergroup, red beds, manganese deposition, global glaciation, anoxic oceans, Paleoproterozoic
- MeSH terms
- Cyanobacteria, Carbon, Climate, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Geology, Iron, Manganese, Models, Biological, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Photosynthesis, Sulfur, Time Factors, Triterpenes, Earth, Planet, Ice Cover, Geological Phenomena
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