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Pope Peabrain 1
I think the earth had to do a lot of rusting first.
Posted by Pope Peabrain on September 24, 2012 at 9:47 AM
2
Thanks Slog! you just did my homework for me.
Posted by nomada on September 24, 2012 at 9:57 AM
venomlash 3
There was a WHOLE LOT of oxygen being produced well prior to the GOE. However, when oxygen-producing organisms died and decomposed, the oxygen they'd produced was consumed. In order for oxygen to build up in the atmosphere due to photosynthesis, reduced organic material had to be buried and sequestered without decomposing (oxidizing) first.
Trust me, I have a background in this shit.
@1: Banded iron formations (results of that rusting) are pretty much the hallmark of the GOE.
Posted by venomlash on September 24, 2012 at 10:13 AM
TVDinner 4
Scientists are now "dropping" papers? Oh, my stars and garters, what is happening to our language?
Posted by TVDinner http:// on September 24, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Will in Seattle 5
I know what the iron said: "Free at last!"
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on September 24, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Cato the Younger Younger 6
I like the Great Oxygen Catastrophe myself.
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on September 24, 2012 at 2:13 PM
MarkyMark 7
For laypersons with a serious interest in this topic, I super-highly recommend David Attenborough's 2010 First Life TV documentary series.

Wikipedia: First Life (TV series)

Its currently only available on a Region 2 DVD (I got mine from Amazon UK - Scarecrow Video is not onto this one).
Posted by MarkyMark on September 24, 2012 at 3:03 PM

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