Mount McRae Shale Formation (IMAGE)

University of Washington

Mount McRae Shale Formation

Caption

Roger Buick in 2004 at the Mount McRae Shale in Western Australia. Rocks drilled near here show “whiffs” of oxygen occurred before the Great Oxidation Event, 2.4 billion years ago. New analyses show a slightly earlier spike in the element mercury emitted by volcanoes, which could have boosted populations of single-celled organisms to produce a temporary “whiff” of oxygen.

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Roger Buick/University of Washington

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