Slowdown of Earth's Rotation 2.4 Billion Years Ago Resulted in Oxygen Surge

Photosynthesis was developed by microscopic creatures called cyanobacteria when our planet was still a pretty inhospitable place, generated nearly all of the oxygen on Earth, and continues to do so now.

Cyanobacteria first appeared around 2.4 billion years ago, but Earth only gradually developed into the oxygen-rich world we see today.

"We don't know why it took so long or what variables governed Earth's oxygenation," said Judith Klatt, a geomicrobiologist.

"However, I had an idea when researching cyanobacteria mats at the Middle Island Sinkhole in Lake Huron, Michigan, which thrive in the circumstances similar to those of early Earth."

Overall, the two largest oxygenation episodes in Earth's history - the Great Oxidation Event, which occurred more than two billion years ago, and the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event, which occurred later - may be connected rising daylength

As a result, increasing day length may have increased benthic net production to affect atmospheric oxygen levels. Klatt writes, "Juggling with this wide variety of temporal and geographic scales was mind-boggling - and lots of fun."

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