Researchers examined barium sulfate minerals and found triple oxygen isotopic evidence that a large reduction in the productivity of the biosphere followed the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) approximately 2,018 million years ago; according to the authors, a decrease in nutrient availability after the GOE may have driven what may be the largest sustained reduction in the size of the biosphere in Earth's history.
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Article #19-00325: "A productivity collapse to end Earth's Great Oxidation," by Malcolm S.W. Hodgskiss, Peter W. Crockford, Yongbo Peng, Boswell A. Wing, and Tristan J. Horner.
MEDIA CONTACT: Peter W. Crockford, Princeton University, NJ; email: peter.crockford@weizmann.ac.il
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences