The origin of terrestrial oxygen: from poison to elixir of life

Our planet did not always have oxygen in current concentrations. At least two major primitive
oxygenation events are related to its origin. Scientists blame microbial life for this change that
transformed the Earth forever.

In human terms, it would be like a bacteriological horror story, microbes that had to die, flee or adapt. A
poison that penetrated the planet in waves and peaks: it first permeated the seas, then the earth's
surface and, finally, accumulated in the atmosphere.

In human terms, it would be like a bacteriological horror story, microbes that had to die, flee or adapt. A
poison that penetrated the planet in waves and peaks: it first permeated the seas, then the earth's
surface and, finally, accumulated in the atmosphere.

To understand what happened, think about the victims of that holocaust; seeks a current refuge without
oxygen on the habitable Earth (there are few left), a place that could have welcomed the refugees from
that mass extinction that occurred at the beginning of the Paleoproterozoic, around 2.4 billion years ago.

That stagnant zone, that Noah's Ark of primordial microbial beings, is your stomach. A primitive
ecosystem subsists there, still anaerobic (which does not use oxygen). It is a bunker isolated from the
process that occurred billions of years ago. Every day you interact with an exodus because oxygen barely
reaches that part of your intestine.

That poison had been scarce for eons (in its free form). A biological force had to release it in incredible
quantities, forming no less than 21% of the current atmosphere. We call that toxin that later became the
elixir of life oxygen. And its story is mysterious...

There were several episodes (we are talking about millions of years, M.a. in geological terms) that
changed everything. If by a spell or a quantum leap you could jump back to the Archaic period (more
than 2,500 million years ago), you would not recognize this planet. You couldn't even breathe. You would
die in a few minutes. Sad end to your first trip through time.

Oxygen went from oxidizing poison to catalyst for almost everything. The evolution of animals and
plants, the energy necessary for life and movement, breathing, the blue sky... everything is measured
today through this gas. We only have to think about the ozone layer (O3), which is formed from oxygen
(O2). Until their appearance, the first living beings, single-celled organisms, were condemned to live in
darkness, in places where they would not be affected by the deadly radiation that ozone protects us
from.