{"id":14749,"date":"2011-01-11T05:05:53","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T13:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=14749"},"modified":"2011-01-11T05:05:53","modified_gmt":"2011-01-11T13:05:53","slug":"oxygen-free-oceans-wrought-changes-on-early-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/oxygen-free-oceans-wrought-changes-on-early-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxygen-Free Oceans Wrought Changes on Early Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Geologists at the University of California, Riverside, have discovered chemical evidence that indicates Earth\u2019s ancient oceans were not only oxygen-free, but also contained large quantities of hydrogen sulphide in some areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the first to show that ample hydrogen sulfide in the ocean was possible this early in Earth\u2019s history,\u201d said Timothy Lyons, a professor of biogeochemistry and the senior investigator in the study, which appears in the February issue of Geology. \u201cThis surprising finding adds to growing evidence showing that ancient ocean chemistry was far more complex than previously imagined and likely influenced life\u2019s evolution on Earth in unexpected ways \u2013 such as, by delaying the appearance and proliferation of some key groups of organisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hydrogen sulphide traditionally was believed to arise as a result of a process which saw oxygen weathering rocks, resulting in sulphate, which in turn was washed into the oceans where bacteria then convert the sulphate into hydrogen sulphide.<\/p>\n

How then, did an almost oxygen-free environment create large quantities of hydrogen sulphide in the oceans, as the 2.6 million year old rocks which were studied by the UCR geologists suggested.<\/p>\n

The answer is volcanoes.<\/p>\n

With the right amount of volcanic activity and sources, the sulphate delivery which is currently the result of oxygen weathering can take place.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur previous work showed evidence for hydrogen sulfide in the ocean more than 100 million years before the first appreciable accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere at the Great Oxidation Event,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cThe data pointing to this 2.5 billion-year-old hydrogen sulfide are fingerprints of incipient atmospheric oxygenation. Now, in contrast, our evidence for abundant 2.6 billion-year-old hydrogen sulfide in the ocean \u2013 that is, another 100 million years earlier \u2013 shows that oxygen wasn\u2019t a prerequisite. The important implication is that hydrogen sulfide was potentially common for a billion or more years before the Great Oxidation Event, and that kind of ocean chemistry has key implications for the evolution of early life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research such as this plays an important part in helping us understand the evolution of life on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research has important implications for the evolutionary history of life on Earth,\u201d added Clint Scott, the first author of the research paper and a former graduate student in Lyons\u2019s lab, \u201cbecause biological evolution both initiated and responded to changes in ocean chemistry. We are trying to piece together the cause-and-effect relationships that resulted, billions of years later, in the evolution of animals and, ultimately, humans. This is really the story of how we got here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: University of California, Riverside<\/a><\/p>\n

Image Source: Nogwater<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geologists at the University of California, Riverside, have discovered chemical evidence that indicates Earth\u2019s ancient oceans were not only oxygen-free, but also contained large quantities of hydrogen sulphide in some areas. \u201cWe are the first to show that ample hydrogen sulfide in the ocean was possible this early in Earth\u2019s history,\u201d said Timothy Lyons, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,38,45],"tags":[12687,14850,14852,17390,26571,29773,30920],"spectra_custom_meta":{"dsq_thread_id":["306530803"],"_oembed_aa20535cb8511d381766a04c2f7b642f":["