Biospheric oxygenation and atmospheric evolution across Earth's earliest glacial episodes

Applicant Professor Dr. Harald Strauß
Subject Area Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
Term from 2008 to 2010
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 79132618
 

Final Report

Final Report Year 2012

Final Report Abstract

In summary: this study provides evidence for the tight coupling of biotic and abiotic mechanisms/processes controlling the ocean-atmosphere system around 2.32 Ga. The multiproxy approach allowed for cross-checking of different proxy signals and the reconstruction of environmental conditions prevailing during the deposition of the Timeball Hill sediments on the shelf of the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa. An obvious feature is the lateral persistence of environmental conditions, but also the temporal variation across the entire formation. Results are consistent with the proposed onset of aerobic conditions on the continents and in the shallow surface ocean in the aftermath of the Great Oxidation Event.

DFG Programme Research Grants
Participating Person Professor Dr. Alan Jay Kaufman