Re: News: Ancient oceans offer new insight into the origins of animal

On 11 =D7=A1=D7=A4=D7=98=D7=9E=D7=91=D7=A8, 20:39, "Robert Karl Stonjek" <r=
ston...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Ancient oceans offer new insight into the origins of animal life
September 9th, 2009 in Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

(PhysOrg.com) -- Analysis of a rock type found only in the world's oldest
oceans has shed new light on how large animals first got a foothold on th=
e
Earth.

A scientific team led by Professor Robert Frei at the University of
Copenhagen in Denmark, and including scientists from Newcastle University=
,
UK, and universities in Uruguay and Southern Denmark, have for the first
time managed to plot the rise and fall of oxygen levels in the Earth's
atmosphere over the last 3.8 billion years.

By analysing the isotopes of chromium in iron-rich sediments formed in th=
e
ancient oceans, the team has found that a rise in atmospheric oxygen leve=
ls
580 million years ago was closely followed by the evolution of animal lif=
e.

Published today in the academic journal Nature, the data offers new insig=
ht
into how animal life - and ultimately humans - first came to roam the
planet.

"Because animals evolved in the sea, most previous research has focussed =
on
oceanic oxygen levels," explains Newcastle University's Dr Simon Poulton,
one of the authors of the paper.

"Our research confirms for the first time that a rise in atmospheric oxyg=
en
was the driving force for oxygenation of the oceans 580 million years ago=
,
and that this was the catalyst for the evolution of large complex animals=
..."

Distinctive chromium isotope signals occur when continental rocks are
altered and weathered as a result of oxygen levels rising in the atmosphe=
re.

The chromium released by this weathering is then washed into the seas and
deposited in the deepest oceans - trapped in iron-rich rocks on the sea b=
ed.

Using this new data, the research team has not only been able to establis=
h
the trigger for the evolution of animals, but have also demonstrated that
oxygen began to pulse into the atmosphere earlier than previously thought=
...

"Oxygen levels actually began to rise 2.8 billion years ago" explains Dr
Poulton.

"But instead of this rise being steady and gradual over time, what we saw=
in
our data was a very unstable situation with short-lived episodes of free
oxygen in the atmosphere early in Earth's history, followed by plummeting
levels around 2 billion years ago.

"It was not until a second rise in atmospheric oxygen 580 million years a=
go
that larger complex animals were able to get a foothold on the Earth."

Source: Newcastle Universityhttp://www.physorg.com/news171722551.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
New Insight Indeed
Into Origins Of Animal Life and
Into Antediluvian Thinking


A. From "New Insight Into Origins Of Animal Life"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090909133020.htm

- "...found that a rise in atmospheric oxygen levels 580 million years
ago was closely followed by the evolution of animal life."

- "Our research confirms for the first time that a rise in atmospheric
oxygen was the driving force for oxygenation of the oceans 580 million
years ago, and that this was the catalyst for the evolution of large
complex animals."

- "Oxygen levels actually began to rise 2.8 billion years ago"
explains Dr Poulton, "But instead of this rise being steady and
gradual over time, what we saw in our data was a very unstable
situation with short-lived episodes of free oxygen in the atmosphere
early in Earth's history, followed by plummeting levels around 2
billion years ago.

- "It was not until a second rise in atmospheric oxygen 580 million
years ago that larger complex animals were able to get a foothold on
the Earth."


B. Ergo, it was the rise in atmospheric oxygen that drove oxygenation
of the oceans 580 million years ago, and this was the catalyst for the
evolution of large complex animals!

Indeed. What admirably reasonable, clear and obvious scientific
thinking, analysis and conclusion...

What else can be said about a respectable 21st technology culture
scientific article published and publicized by respectable 21st
technology century scientific journals...


Dov Henis
(Comments From The 22nd Century)
Updated Life's Manifest May 2009
http://www.the-scientist.com/community/posts/list/140/122.page#2321

.

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