Earth oxygen existed 2.5 billion years ago

A study funded by the U.S. space agency suggested oxygen existed in Earth's atmosphere much earlier than thought.

Two separate teams of astrobiologists found evidence of oxygen in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere approximately 2.5 billion years ago by analyzing a nearly 1-mile-long drill core from Western Australia.

"We seem to have captured a piece of time during which the amount of oxygen was actually changing -- caught in the act, as it were," said Arizona State University-Tempe Associate Professor Ariel Anbar, who led one of the research teams.

The other research group was led by Alan Kaufman of the University of Maryland.

"Studying the dynamics that gave rise to the presence of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere deepens our appreciation of the complex interaction between biology and geochemistry," said Carl Pilcher, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Astrobiology Institute, which co-funded the studies. He said the results support the theory that Earth and life on it evolved together.

Here’s hoping no one posts any of the usual immature recycled remarks which start flame wars. Romeo and Juliet, III, i, 94.

Early Water on Earth
Geotimes | February 2003 | Salma Monani
Posted on 02/09/2003 7:22:57 PM EST by CalConservative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/839466/posts

Diamonds Tell Story Of Earth’s Beginning
The Telegraph (UK) | 8-22-2007 | Roger Highfield
Posted on 08/22/2007 9:48:58 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1885157/posts

Deep Under the Sea, Boiling Founts of Life Itself
The New York Times | September 9, 2003 | WILLIAM J. BROAD
Posted on 09/09/2003 2:04:45 PM EDT by presidio9
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/978987/posts

[snip] A few years back, Dr. Derek R. Lovley and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts found that a few kinds of bacteria used iron as a means of respiration (just as humans use oxygen to burn food) and that a surprising but common byproduct of this form of microbial breathing was magnetite, a hard black magnetic mineral. The scientists wondered if hidden swarms of microbes might account for the vast deposits of magnetite that dot the earth and sea... To their surprise, they found that all the heat-loving microbes, known as hyperthermophiles, could breathe iron and make magnetite. Not only that, but one type broke the high-temperature record, thriving at an astonishing 250 degrees — far above the boiling temperatures usually associated with sterilization. The alien organism was judged to be among the most primitive forms of life ever discovered... That discovery, he and other scientists say, suggests that all life on earth may have originated from a microbe that breathed iron — potentially a key insight to learning about the chemical pathways that eons ago led to the dawn of biologic evolution. [end]

New Arctic oasis found
Aftenposten | 8/11/2005 | Rolf L. Larsen
Posted on 08/12/2005 4:30:24 PM EDT by Red Badger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1462252/posts

[snip] The underwater hot springs were found at a depth of 600 meters on the so-called “Mohnsryggen” north of the Arctic island of Jan Mayen, where Norway maintains a weather station and military presence... Their eyes widened when the mini-sub glided into an underwater forest of sorts, featuring pinnacles from which streamed water as hot as 250 degrees C. Around the pinnacles (called skorstein in Norwegian) the researchers could see rich sea life including shrimps, sea spiders, coral and eel... It’s not common to see coral like this thriving in the waters of the Arctic. [end]

Study Suggests Life On Earth Sprang From Borax Minerals
Science Daily | 09 January 2004 | Staff
Posted on 01/10/2004 11:05:30 AM EST by PatrickHenry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1055310/posts

[snip] In 1995, Miller gave up trying to make ribose prebiotically, writing: “The first genetic material could not have contained ribose or other sugars because of their instability.” ...Benner and his team showed that formaldehyde, with other interstellar compounds, could form ribose and other sugars when treated in the presence of base materials such as lime... effective, but the ribose decomposed soon after it was formed... “Colemanite is a mineral containing borate found in Death Valley,” he said. “Without it, ribose turns into a brown tar. With it, ribose and other sugars emerge as clean products.” Benner then showed similar reactions with other borate minerals, including ulexite and kernite, which is more commonly known as borax... “We are not claiming that this is how life started,” Benner stressed. “We are saying that we have demonstrated a recipe to make a key part of life without any biochemical machinery. The more recipes of this type that can be found, the more clues we have about how life could have actually gotten started on the primitive Earth.” [end]

Early Earth Likely Had Continents, Was Habitable, According To New Study
University of Colorado at Boulder | 2005-11-18
Posted on 11/18/2005 11:32:59 PM EST by dila813
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525001/posts

Did Snowball Earth’s Melting Let Oxygen Fuel Life?
New Scientist | 11-27-2006 | Jeff Hecht
Posted on 11/27/2006 7:51:30 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1744843/posts

Sea floor records ancient Earth
BBC | Friday, 23 March 2007, 09:09 GMT | Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Posted on 03/24/2007 2:06:03 AM EDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805973/posts

Early Earth Was Purple, Study Suggests (Go Vikes!)
LiveScience.com on yahoo | 4/10/07 | Ker Than
Posted on 04/10/2007 3:31:20 PM EDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1815084/posts

[snip] Chlorophyll, the main photosynthetic pigment of plants, absorbs mainly blue and red wavelengths from the Sun and reflects green ones, and it is this reflected light that gives plants their leafy color. This fact puzzles some biologists because the sun transmits most of its energy in the green part of the visible spectrum... Primitive microbes that used retinal to harness the sunâ€™s energy might have dominated early Earth, DasSarma said, thus tinting some of the first biological hotspots on the planet a distinctive purple color. Being latecomers, microbes that used chlorophyll could not compete directly with those utilizing retinal, but they survived by evolving the ability to absorb the very wavelengths retinal did not use, DasSarma said. [end] (wow, that’s a “save the theory” nonsequitur)

Oxygen at Extrasolar Planet, a First
space.com | 02/02/04 | Tariq Malik
Posted on 02/02/2004 9:01:13 PM EST by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1070343/posts

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