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Oxygen evolution. Oxygen evolution is the process of generating molecular oxygen (O 2) by a chemical reaction, usually from water. Oxygen evolution from water is effected by oxygenic photosynthesis, electrolysis of water, and thermal decomposition of various oxides. The biological process supports aerobic life.
Geological history of oxygen. O 2 build-up in the Earth's atmosphere. Red and green lines represent the range of the estimates while time is measured in billions of years ago (Ga). Stage 1 (3.85–2.45 Ga): Practically no O 2 in the atmosphere. Stage 2 (2.45–1.85 Ga): O 2 produced, but absorbed in oceans and seabed rock.
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 atmosphere and shallow seas first experienced a rise in the concentration of free oxygen. [3]
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 ...
Oxygen became a significant component of Earth's atmosphere about 2.4 Ga. [135] Although eukaryotes may have been present much earlier, [136] [137] the oxygenation of the atmosphere was a prerequisite for the evolution of the most complex eukaryotic cells, from which all multicellular organisms are built. [138]
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of its lifetime and how it can lead to the creation of a new star. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the current age of the ...
Graph showing range of estimated partial pressure of atmospheric oxygen through geologic time [111] Photosynthesis had another major impact. Oxygen was toxic; much life on Earth probably died out as its levels rose in what is known as the oxygen catastrophe. Resistant forms survived and thrived, and some developed the ability to use oxygen to ...
Photosynthetic water splitting (or oxygen evolution) is one of the most important reactions on the planet, since it is the source of nearly all the atmosphere's oxygen. Moreover, artificial photosynthetic water-splitting may contribute to the effective use of sunlight as an alternative energy-source.