Bistability of atmospheric oxygen and the Great Oxidation

Colin Goldblatt (), Timothy M. Lenton and Andrew J. Watson
Additional contact information
Colin Goldblatt: University of East Anglia
Timothy M. Lenton: University of East Anglia
Andrew J. Watson: University of East Anglia

Nature, 2006, vol. 443, issue 7112, 683-686

Abstract: Waiting for oxygen The first significant increase in atmospheric oxygen levels on Earth (the 'Great Oxidation') is thought to have occurred at least 300 million years after the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis, but the reason for this time lag is not clear. Using a new conceptual model of the global redox system, Goldblatt et al. show that atmospheric oxygen levels could have remained either at a low or a high steady state after oxygenic photosynthesis evolved. The Great Oxidation may have been a switch between these states triggered by a relatively small environmental change. The model suggests that oxygenic photosynthesis alone is insufficient to cause an oxygen-rich atmosphere. So in the absence of additional factors, Earth might have an atmosphere containing only a few parts per million of oxygen, not the 21% which we enjoy. Equally, oxygenic photosynthesis could conceivably have evolved on planets that only have low levels of atmospheric oxygen.

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05169 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:443:y:2006:i:7112:d:10.1038_nature05169

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature05169

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().