Chemical analysis of ancient rocks reveals earliest record yet of Earth's atmosphere: Isotopic memory of atmospheric persistence
Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 04:05
in Earth & Climate
Chemical analysis of some of the world's oldest rocks has provided the earliest record yet of Earth's atmosphere. The results show that the air 4 billion years ago was very similar to that more than a billion years later, when the atmosphere -- though it likely would have been lethal to oxygen-dependent humans -- supported a thriving microbial biosphere that ultimately gave rise to the diversity of life on Earth today.