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Origin of "Breathable" Atmosphere on Earth Found

Geologists have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today. The study suggests that upheavals in the earth’s crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world’s oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

tags origin breathable atmosphere earth oxygen greenhouse effect

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15	larknet

10 months ago

So our oxygen supply may have been supplied by a giant geothermic fart?

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eljay

10 months ago

So that is what they mean by the big BANG theory.

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17	rambler

10 months ago

« larknet : So our oxygen supply may have been supplied by a giant geothermic fart?

I guess that would be one way of putting it!

Anyway, it's an interesting new view into the "recent" geological past of the planet, the last few "geological minutes" that started involving life on Earth.

Specially interesting for me, since my career has (so far) been concentrated in two areas: mineral (mostly gold) exploration in rocks that are more than 2,500 million years old (and therefore well before there were any signs of life); and the effects of mining activity on current lifeforms (including us humans).

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15	larknet

10 months ago

« rambler : I guess that would be one way of putting it!

Anyway, it's an interesting new view into the "recent" geological past of the planet, the last few "geological minutes" that started involving life on Earth.

Specially interesting for me, since my career has (so far) been concentrated in two areas: mineral (mostly gold) exploration in rocks that are more than 2,500 million years old (and therefore well before there were any signs of life); and the effects of mining activity on current lifeforms (including us humans).

I WAS a geophysics major in college. Only finished two years and then dropped out and joined the Coast Guard. I still am intrigued by geology though.

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