Biospheric oxygenation and atmospheric evolution across Earth's earliest glacial episodes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Harald Strauß
• Subject Area: Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2008 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 79132618

• Final Report Year: 2012

Final Report Abstract

In summary: this study provides evidence for the tight coupling of biotic and abiotic mechanisms/processes controlling the ocean-atmosphere system around 2.32 Ga. The multiproxy approach allowed for cross-checking of different proxy signals and the reconstruction of environmental conditions prevailing during the deposition of the Timeball Hill sediments on the shelf of the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa. An obvious feature is the lateral persistence of environmental conditions, but also the temporal variation across the entire formation. Results are consistent with the proposed onset of aerobic conditions on the continents and in the shallow surface ocean in the aftermath of the Great Oxidation Event.