Marine phosphorus and atmospheric oxygen were coupled during the Great Oxidation Event
The Great Oxidation Event (GOE) represents a major increase in atmospheric O<sub>2</sub> concentration between ca. 2430 and 2060 million years ago, culminating in the permanent shift to an oxygenated atmosphere. It's causes remain debated. Here we use the carbonate-associated phosphate (CAP) proxy to reconstruct oceanic phosphorus concentrations during the GOE from globally distributed sedimentary rocks. We find that the CAP and the inorganic carbon isotope composition of marine sediments co-varied during the GOE, suggesting synchronous fluctuations in marine phosphorus, biological productivity, and atmospheric O₂. Biogeochemical modelling shows that transient increases in P bioavailability can raise oxygenic primary production and organic carbon burial, yielding isotopically heavy seawater inorganic carbon and reproducing the observed patterns. Consequently, geochemical and modelling data together suggest that P availability was a likely contributor to the rapid oxygenation of Earth during the GOE.
Authors
- Mingcai Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7583-9159)
- Benjamin Mills (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9141-0931)
- Zihu Zhang
- Franco Pirajno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1082-3548)
- Matthew S. Dodd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4470-933X)
- Aleksey Sadekov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0436-0244)
- Frantz Ossa Ossa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1875-8082)
- Andrey Bekker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1154-0585)
- Carlos Alberto Rosière (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2364-6536)
- Lewis J. Alcott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6484-5406)
- Chao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9861-661X)
- Haodong Gu
Institutions
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Khalifa University of Science and Technology (AE)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- University of Johannesburg (ZA)
- China University of Geosciences (CN)
- Chengdu University of Technology (CN)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-10-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64194-4
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.33
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research
- Chengdu University of Technology
- Chengdu University
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada