Refining Earth’s first exit from oxygenation

The first initial buildup of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere – the Great Oxidation Event – started around 2.5 billion years ago, where oxygen may have reached levels comparable to today’s atmosphere. Following its debut, atmospheric oxygen levels quickly crashed, coinciding with a contraction of the global biosphere. The geologic time period of the Orosirian (2.05 – 1.8 billion years ago) records Earth’s exit from oxygenation (“OXIT”) in addition to an evolutionary milestone – the emergence of Eukaryotes. Animals (including humans), plants, and fungi are all eukaryotic organisms and without the rise of Eukaryotes, life as we know it today would not exist. The Orosirian has been overlooked for understanding early life and the environments that eventually enabled it to proliferate. Fortunately, Orosirian aged carbonates, from the Great Slave Lake region of northern Canada, may just hold the very clues we need. Trace element concentrations of these samples will be measured at the University of Western Brittany. In doing so, the environmental conditions in the aftermath of OXIT, which enabled the advance of Eukaryotes, will finally be understood. This project will offer major breakthroughs to the fields of Earth and life history and critical metals.

Faculty Supervisor:

Peter Crockford

Student:

Partner:

Université de Bretagne Occidentale

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Mining; Green/Alternative Energy; Clean Technology

University:

Carleton University

Program: