Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post Reply
User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:35 pm

DRSB mentioned a book she used fot a talk by Nick lane on oxygen. This is the better of two recent books on oxygen.

Nick Lane has other books as well, they are all good, readable for the generalist.
https://www.amazon.com/Oxygen-molecule- ... 97B586WM67

The other book was OK for about 50 pages and with a standard biochemistry text as help, I understood pretty much all. Then he spends about 2/3 of the book on geology, as he is a geologist. It's fine, you need to know how these materials are circulated and how oxygen came into the picture. But it took me two hours to skim through the book and he really does go on and on about every detail of this part. Not needed for me, a generalist. CO2 is mostly in rocks so what little we circulate is small compared to what the earth recycles thorugh the ocean and then volcanoes.

https://www.amazon.com/Oxygen-Billion-H ... eton+press

Lots of other books on young earth. Some are readable, some are 200 dollar college texts. This one I have on order.

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Young-Plane ... QCW1GY6V99

The geologist book, Canfield, does seem to manage to explain that single cell organisms were quite advanced by the time they invented photosynthesis. The proteins needed for photosynthesis had other uses related to manganese prior to the photosynthetic part.

The dark reaction part employs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuBisCO
which seems to have been around all life back then and is not a well behaved beast. It may have had other uses as well. But here is used to grab CO2 in the plant with help from the light reaction.
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com
http://esabirdsne.blogspot.com/
Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:41 pm

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospher ... atmosphere
Earliest atmosphere
The first atmosphere consisted of gases in the solar nebula, primarily hydrogen. There were probably simple hydrides such as those now found in the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), notably water vapor, methane and ammonia. As the solar nebula dissipated, these gases escaped, partly driven off by the solar wind.[32]
Second atmosphere
Outgassing from volcanism, supplemented by gases produced during the late heavy bombardment of Earth by huge asteroids, produced the next atmosphere, consisting largely of nitrogen plus carbon dioxide and inert gases.[32] A major part of carbon-dioxide emissions soon dissolved in water and built up carbonate sediments.[clarification needed]
Researchers have found water-related sediments dating from as early as 3.8 billion years ago.[33] About 3.4 billion years ago, nitrogen formed the major part of the then stable "second atmosphere". The influence of life has to be taken into account rather soon in the history of the atmosphere, because hints of early life-forms appear as early as 3.5 billion years ago.[34] How Earth at that time maintained a climate warm enough for liquid water and life, if the early Sun put out 30% lower solar radiance than today, is a puzzle known as the "faint young Sun paradox".
The geological record however shows a continuous relatively warm surface during the complete early temperature record of Earth - with the exception of one cold glacial phase about 2.4 billion years ago. In the late Archean Eon an oxygen-containing atmosphere began to develop, apparently produced by photosynthesizing cyanobacteria (see Great Oxygenation Event), which have been found as stromatolite fossils from 2.7 billion years ago. The early basic carbon isotopy (isotope ratio proportions) strongly suggests conditions similar to the current, and that the fundamental features of the carbon cycle became established as early as 4 billion years ago.
Ancient sediments in the Gabon dating from between about 2,150 and 2,080 million years ago provide a record of Earth's dynamic oxygenation evolution. These fluctuations in oxygenation were likely driven by the Lomagundi carbon isotope excursion.[35]
Third atmosphere

Oxygen content of the atmosphere over the last billion years[36][37]
The constant re-arrangement of continents by plate tectonics influences the long-term evolution of the atmosphere by transferring carbon dioxide to and from large continental carbonate stores. Free oxygen did not exist in the atmosphere until about 2.4 billion years ago during the Great Oxygenation Event and its appearance is indicated by the end of the banded iron formations.
Before this time, any oxygen produced by photosynthesis was consumed by oxidation of reduced materials, notably iron. Molecules of free oxygen did not start to accumulate in the atmosphere until the rate of production of oxygen began to exceed the availability of reducing materials that removed oxygen. This point signifies a shift from a reducing atmosphere to an oxidizing atmosphere. O2 showed major variations until reaching a steady state of more than 15% by the end of the Precambrian.[38] The following time span from 541 million years ago to the present day is the Phanerozoic Eon, during the earliest period of which, the Cambrian, oxygen-requiring metazoan life forms began to appear.
The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere has fluctuated over the last 600 million years, reaching a peak of about 30% around 280 million years ago, significantly higher than today's 21%. Two main processes govern changes in the atmosphere: Plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, releasing oxygen. Breakdown of pyrite and volcanic eruptions release sulfur into the atmosphere, which oxidizes and hence reduces the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. However, volcanic eruptions also release carbon dioxide, which plants can convert to oxygen. The exact cause of the variation of the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is not known. Periods with much oxygen in the atmosphere are associated with rapid development of animals. Today's atmosphere contains 21% oxygen, which is high enough for this rapid development of animals.[39]

Animation shows the buildup of tropospheric CO2 in the Northern Hemisphere with a maximum around May. The maximum in the vegetation cycle follows in the late summer. Following the peak in vegetation, the drawdown of atmospheric CO2 due to photosynthesis is apparent, particularly over the boreal forests.
The scientific consensus is that the anthropogenic greenhouse gases currently accumulating in the atmosphere are the main cause of global warming.[40]

PALEOCLIMATE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoclim ... atmosphere
Second atmosphere[edit]
The next atmosphere, consisting largely of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and inert gases, was produced by outgassing from volcanism, supplemented by gases produced during the late heavy bombardment of Earth by huge asteroids.[10] A major part of carbon dioxide emissions were soon dissolved in water and built up carbonate sediments.
Water-related sediments have been found dating from as early as 3.8 billion years ago.[11] About 3.4 billion years ago, nitrogen was the major part of the then stable "second atmosphere". An influence of life has to be taken into account rather soon in the history of the atmosphere because hints of early life forms have been dated to as early as 3.5 billion years ago.[12] The fact that it is not perfectly in line with the 30% lower solar radiance (compared to today) of the early Sun has been described as the "faint young Sun paradox".
The geological record, however, shows a continually relatively warm surface during the complete early temperature record of Earth with the exception of one cold glacial phase about 2.4 billion years ago. In the late Archaean eon, an oxygen-containing atmosphere began to develop, apparently from photosynthesizing cyanobacteria (see Great Oxygenation Event) which have been found as stromatolite fossils from 2.7 billion years ago. The early basic carbon isotopy (isotope ratio proportions) was very much in line with what is found today, suggesting that the fundamental features of the carbon cycle were established as early as 4 billion years ago.
Third atmosphere[edit]
The constant rearrangement of continents by plate tectonics influences the long-term evolution of the atmosphere by transferring carbon dioxide to and from large continental carbonate stores. Free oxygen did not exist in the atmosphere until about 2.4 billion years ago, during the Great Oxygenation Event, and its appearance is indicated by the end of the banded iron formations. Until then, any oxygen produced by photosynthesis was consumed by oxidation of reduced materials, notably iron. Molecules of free oxygen did not start to accumulate in the atmosphere until the rate of production of oxygen began to exceed the availability of reducing materials. That point was a shift from a reducing atmosphere to an oxidizing atmosphere. O2 showed major variations until reaching a steady state of more than 15% by the end of the Precambrian.[13]The following time span was the Phanerozoic eon, during which oxygen-breathing metazoan life forms began to appear.
The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere has fluctuated over the last 600 million years, reaching a peak of 35%[14] during the Carboniferous period, significantly higher than today's 21%. Two main processes govern changes in the atmosphere: plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, releasing oxygen and the breakdown of pyrite and volcanic eruptions release sulfur into the atmosphere, which oxidizes and hence reduces the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. However, volcanic eruptions also release carbon dioxide, which plants can convert to oxygen. The exact cause of the variation of the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is not known. Periods with much oxygen in the atmosphere are associated with rapid development of animals. Today's atmosphere contains 21% oxygen, which is high enough for rapid development of animals.[15]
Currently, anthropogenic greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere, which is the main cause of global warming.[16]
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com
http://esabirdsne.blogspot.com/
Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:42 pm

All this gas and no major user of CO2! The earlier bacteria knew how to use photons, but they used things like H2S to fix carbon. It sort of worked, but much smaller scale.

It took a while to do the same thing with H2O and CO2. There was all this troublesome O2 waste....

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:15 pm

The somewhat mysterious part is the build up of O2 in a relatively short time. My take on that is that for whatever reason, the mass of living things increased. If the carbon is tied up in life. It can't oxidize back to CO2 (using up the oxygen). So in fact, we have to have the mass of amimal and plant life to keep up an O2 level of 20%.
Geological history of oxygen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologica ... _of_oxygen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologica ... _of_oxygen
Before photosynthesis evolved, Earth's atmosphere had no free oxygen (O2).[2]Photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms that produced O2 as a waste product lived long before the first build-up of free oxygen in the atmosphere,[3] perhaps as early as 3.5 billion years ago. The oxygen they produced would have been rapidly removed from the atmosphere by weathering of reducing minerals, most notably iron. This "mass rusting" led to the deposition of iron oxide on the ocean floor, forming banded iron formations. Oxygen only began to persist in the atmosphere in small quantities about 50 million years before the start of the Great Oxygenation Event.[4] This mass oxygenation of the atmosphere resulted in rapid buildup of free oxygen. At current rates of primary production, today's concentration of oxygen could be produced by photosyntheticorganisms in 2,000 years.[5] In the absence of plants, the rate of oxygen production by photosynthesis was slower in the Precambrian, and the concentrations of O2 attained were less than 10% of today's and probably fluctuated greatly; oxygen may even have disappeared from the atmosphere again around 1.9 billion years ago.[6] These fluctuations in oxygen concentration had little direct effect on life,[citation needed] with mass extinctions not observed until the appearance of complex life around the start of the Cambrian period, 541 million years ago.[7]

The presence of O2 provided life with new opportunities. Aerobic metabolism is more efficient than anaerobic pathways, and the presence of oxygen undoubtedly created new possibilities for life to explore.[8]:214, 586[9]Since the start of the Cambrian period, atmospheric oxygen concentrations have fluctuated between 15% and 35% of atmospheric volume.[10] The maximum of 35% was reached towards the end of the Carboniferous period (about 300 million years ago), a peak which may have contributed to the large size of insects and amphibians at that time.[9] Whilst human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, affect relative carbon dioxide concentrations, their effect on the much larger concentration of oxygen is less significant.[11]
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com
http://esabirdsne.blogspot.com/
Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Thu Jan 18, 2018 3:16 am

Some new stuff will come out within 10 years and will organize some of the events.

One author noted that the biggest achievements in biochemistry just get you a Nobel in chemistry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Calvin

User avatar
rainbow
Posts: 13526
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:10 am
About me: Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter
Location: Africa
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by rainbow » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:41 am

Tero wrote:The somewhat mysterious part is the build up of O2 in a relatively short time.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.

...but what is likely is that there was a great deal of ferrous iron in the oceans, which is soluble. Any oxygen produced would've been scavenged by this iron, forming insoluble ferric oxide. Once this sink for oxygen was used up, there was a sudden increase in the Earth's atmosphere.
I call bullshit - Alfred E Einstein
BArF−4

User avatar
Rum
Absent Minded Processor
Posts: 37285
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:25 pm
Location: South of the border..though not down Mexico way..
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Rum » Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:14 pm

Just sayin'..

obl2001.jpg
obl2001.jpg (13.62 KiB) Viewed 19076 times

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:56 pm

rainbow wrote:
Tero wrote:The somewhat mysterious part is the build up of O2 in a relatively short time.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.

...but what is likely is that there was a great deal of ferrous iron in the oceans, which is soluble. Any oxygen produced would've been scavenged by this iron, forming insoluble ferric oxide. Once this sink for oxygen was used up, there was a sudden increase in the Earth's atmosphere.
No I meant the buological units took over quickly, making the oxygen. So the mass of this life in ocean had to grow. Dead animals or cyaobacteria merely consume O2 as they are recycled.

The iron part is well known.

User avatar
rainbow
Posts: 13526
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:10 am
About me: Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter
Location: Africa
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by rainbow » Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:47 pm

Tero wrote:
rainbow wrote:
Tero wrote:The somewhat mysterious part is the build up of O2 in a relatively short time.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.

...but what is likely is that there was a great deal of ferrous iron in the oceans, which is soluble. Any oxygen produced would've been scavenged by this iron, forming insoluble ferric oxide. Once this sink for oxygen was used up, there was a sudden increase in the Earth's atmosphere.
No I meant the buological units took over quickly, making the oxygen. So the mass of this life in ocean had to grow. Dead animals or cyaobacteria merely consume O2 as they are recycled.
No entirely. A portion ended up in the sediments, and became the fossil fuels we are so fond of.

There is a mass balance. All the oxygen in the atmosphere must have come from CO2. Therefore for every molecule of O2, there is a carbon atom fixed in some way, mostly as oil, gas and coal.

So if we burn all the petroleum, natural gas and frozen methane clathrates, there will be no oxygen left. We can return the Earth back to a CO2 atmosphere.
I call bullshit - Alfred E Einstein
BArF−4

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:07 pm

No entirely. A portion ended up in the sediments, and became the fossil fuels we are so fond of.
It turns out that there is a carbon cycle part that exists apart from life. It is mostly the limestone that is worn off by CO2 (in rain, and from air when rocks are wet) falling on exposed CaCO3 on the surface. It washes off as the more soluble calcium bicarbonate. Subduction and volcanic activity recycle it. So it cycles but is always oxidized carbon.

This part does not come into play much, but when there is a glacial period, much of the ground is covered and weathering does not take place. The CO2 in the air builds up after a long period, as the geological recycling is not working then. So it counteracts the freezing and cold climate.
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com
http://esabirdsne.blogspot.com/
Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...

User avatar
rainbow
Posts: 13526
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:10 am
About me: Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter
Location: Africa
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by rainbow » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:01 am

Even the limestone is mainly of biological origin.
I call bullshit - Alfred E Einstein
BArF−4

User avatar
Brian Peacock
Tipping cows since 1946
Posts: 37941
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:44 am
About me: Ablate me:
Location: Location: Location:
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Brian Peacock » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:30 pm

Get out of that one Tero :D

Geology is such a slow subject.
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here.

.

"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

Frank Zappa

"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
.

User avatar
rainbow
Posts: 13526
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:10 am
About me: Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter
Location: Africa
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by rainbow » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:33 pm

It rocks!
I call bullshit - Alfred E Einstein
BArF−4

User avatar
Tero
Just saying
Posts: 47109
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:50 pm
About me: 15-32-25
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Young earth and life and a bunch of gases

Post by Tero » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:03 pm

Yeah, that was my problem with the one Oxygen book, by Canfield. It was all geology. I now have the two Nick Lane books. He is a bit wordy. But there are some nice concepts. All the eukariotic life is very closely connected, a world away from bacteria. Other than amino acids and genetic code, bacteria do stuff differently. Then he gets into the "this swam inside that cell" to explain mitochondria and chloroplasts. Page after page. Then the strange proton gradients.

Protons are used in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxidative_phosphorylation
but rather than put that one picture in, Lane goes page after page. It is an odd enzyme, ATP synthase, but one could explain proton gradients by analogy to ion gradients used in all nerve conduction.

There used to be these books in Amazon that were just cut and paste Wikipedia articles. They were all e-books. Those were good.
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com
http://esabirdsne.blogspot.com/
Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests