Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
δ 18 O, a proxy for temperature, for the last 600,000 years (an average from several deep sea sediment carbonate samples) [a]. The 100,000-year problem (also 100 ky problem or 100 ka problem) of the Milankovitch theory of orbital forcing refers to a discrepancy between the reconstructed geologic temperature record and the reconstructed amount of incoming solar radiation, or insolation over ...
The oxygen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle of oxygen atoms between different oxidation states in ions, oxides, and molecules through redox reactions within and between the spheres/reservoirs of the planet Earth. [ 1] The word oxygen in the literature typically refers to the most common oxygen allotrope, elemental/diatomic oxygen (O 2 ), as it ...
Geological history of oxygen. Before photosynthesis evolved, Earth's atmosphere had no free diatomic oxygen (O 2 ). [ 2] Small quantities of oxygen were released by geological [ 3] and biological processes, but did not build up in the atmosphere due to reactions with reducing minerals. Oxygen began building up in the atmosphere at approximately ...
One of the most important events of the Proterozoic was the accumulation of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. Though oxygen is believed to have been released by photosynthesis as far back as the Archean Eon, it could not build up to any significant degree until mineral sinks of unoxidized sulfur and iron had been exhausted. Until roughly 2.3 ...
Scientists have discovered a new source of oxygen on the planet, originating from metal “batteries” deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. The “dark oxygen” phenomenon was observed at depths of ...
Stages 4 and 5 (0.85 Ga – present): Other O 2 reservoirs filled; gas accumulates in atmosphere. [ 1] The Great Oxidation Event ( GOE) or Great Oxygenation Event, also called the Oxygen Catastrophe, Oxygen Revolution, Oxygen Crisis or Oxygen Holocaust, [ 2] was a time interval during the Earth 's Paleoproterozoic era when the Earth's ...
Cosmic rays ionize nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the atmosphere, which leads to a number of chemical reactions. Cosmic rays are also responsible for the continuous production of a number of unstable isotopes, such as carbon-14, in the Earth's atmosphere through the reaction: n + 14 N → p + 14 C.
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds. Oxygen is the most abundant element in Earth's crust, and after hydrogen and helium, it ...