Catalyst for LIFE

A new study suggests that the weathering of sulfate rocks, not increasing ocean phosphorus levels, was crucial to the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere, influencing the late evolution of animal life, and also indicates that potential for complex intelligent life on other planets might require longer incubation times.


A recent research study may have discovered a missing link that helps explain Earth’s uniquely oxygen-saturated atmosphere and the corresponding evolution of animal life on our planet.


The study, led by a Fellow of the Forrest Research Foundation at The University of Western Australia and recently published in the esteemed journal Nature, may hold the key to understanding why, for almost 90% of Earth’s history, oxygen levels remained too low for animals to breathe.


The first major evolutionary event of animal life occurred during an event dubbed the Shuram Excursion – between 570 and 550 million years ago – which is believed to represent a massive release of carbon dioxide and oxygen into the atmosphere and oceans as a result of increasing ocean phosphorus levels.


To test the theory, researchers used a newly developed tool to track the abundance of phosphorus in the oceans hundreds of millions of years ago, recorded in six locations in Australia, China, Mexico, and the US.


The data and Earth chemistry model revealed increasing ocean phosphorus levels could not have explained the rise of oxygen. The effect was only replicated by the model when large quantities of sulfate rock were weathered, releasing sulfate into the oceans to produce vast amounts of oxygen.  READ MORE...