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Mantle data imply a decline of oxidizable volcanic gases could have triggered the Great Oxidation

Author

Listed:
  • Shintaro Kadoya

    (University of Washington)

  • David C. Catling

    (University of Washington)

  • Robert W. Nicklas

    (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

  • Igor S. Puchtel

    (University of Maryland)

  • Ariel D. Anbar

    (Arizona State University)

Abstract

Aerobic lifeforms, including humans, thrive because of abundant atmospheric O2, but for much of Earth history O2 levels were low. Even after evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis appeared, the atmosphere remained anoxic for hundreds of millions of years until the ~2.4 Ga Great Oxidation Event. The delay of atmospheric oxygenation and its timing remain poorly understood. Two recent studies reveal that the mantle gradually oxidized from the Archean onwards, leading to speculation that such oxidation enabled atmospheric oxygenation. But whether this mechanism works has not been quantitatively examined. Here, we show that these data imply that reducing Archean volcanic gases could have prevented atmospheric O2 from accumulating until ~2.5 Ga with ≥95% probability. For two decades, mantle oxidation has been dismissed as a key driver of the evolution of O2 and aerobic life. Our findings warrant a reconsideration for Earth and Earth-like exoplanets.

Suggested Citation

  • Shintaro Kadoya & David C. Catling & Robert W. Nicklas & Igor S. Puchtel & Ariel D. Anbar, 2020. "Mantle data imply a decline of oxidizable volcanic gases could have triggered the Great Oxidation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16493-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16493-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Lei Gao & Shuwen Liu & Peter A. Cawood & Fangyang Hu & Jintuan Wang & Guozheng Sun & Yalu Hu, 2022. "Oxidation of Archean upper mantle caused by crustal recycling," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Guoxiong Chen & Qiuming Cheng & Timothy W. Lyons & Jun Shen & Frits Agterberg & Ning Huang & Molei Zhao, 2022. "Reconstructing Earth’s atmospheric oxygenation history using machine learning," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Austine Ofondu Chinomso Iroegbu & Suprakas Sinha Ray, 2021. "Bamboos: From Bioresource to Sustainable Materials and Chemicals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-25, November.
    4. Fangyi Zhang & Vincenzo Stagno & Lipeng Zhang & Chen Chen & Haiyang Liu & Congying Li & Weidong Sun, 2024. "The constant oxidation state of Earth’s mantle since the Hadean," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

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