WVU Geologist Explores Ancient Air Pockets Changing the History of Earth's Oxygen
Monday, August 22, 2016 - 16:01
in Earth & Climate
West Virginia University geologist Kathleen Benison is part of a research team using new direct methods to measure the Earth's oxygenation. The team's study identifies, for the first time, exactly how much oxygen was in Earth's atmosphere 813 million years ago--10.9 percent. This finding, they say, demonstrates that oxygenation on Earth occurred 300 million years earlier than previously concluded from indirect measurements, even predating Earth's earliest life forms.