Citation
The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans
TL;DR
Oxygen accumulated gradually over hundreds of millions of years
Detailed analysis of atmospheric and oceanic oxygenation over geological time. Provides evidence for how cyanobacterial niche construction transformed global environments over hundreds of millions of years, showing the long timescales over which biological niche construction can operate.
Key Findings from Holland (2006)
- Oxygen accumulated gradually over hundreds of millions of years
- Initial oxygen reacted with dissolved iron, creating banded iron formations
- Oxygenation fundamentally rewrote evolutionary possibility