Weathering, alteration and reconstructing Earth's oxygenation.

ABSTRACT: Deciphering the role-if any-that free oxygen levels played in controlling the timing and tempo of the radiation of complex life is one of the most fundamental questions in Earth and life sciences. Accurately reconstructing Earth's redox history is an essential part of tackling this question. Over the past few decades, there has been a proliferation of research employing geochemical redox proxies in an effort to tell the story of Earth's oxygenation. However, many of these studies, even those considering the same geochemical proxy systems, have led to conflicting interpretations of the timing and intensity of oxygenation events. There are two potential explanations for conflicting redox reconstructions: (i) that free oxygen levels were incredibly dynamic in both time and space or (ii) that

SUBMITTER: Planavsky NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7333904 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature