Geological constraints on the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis

This article examines the geological evidence for the rise of atmospheric oxygen and the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis. The evidence for the rise of atmospheric oxygen places a minimum time constraint before which oxygenic photosynthesis must have developed, and was subsequently established as the primary control on the atmospheric oxygen level. The geological evidence places the global rise of atmospheric oxygen, termed the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), between ~2.45 and ~2.32 Ga, and it is captured within the Duitschland Formation, which shows a transition from mass-independent to mass-dependent sulfur isotope fractionation. The rise of atmospheric oxygen during this interval is closely associated with a number of environmental changes, such as glaciations and intense continental weathering, and led to dramatic changes in the oxidation state of the ocean and the seawater inventory of transition elements. There are other features of the geologic record predating the GOE by as much as 200-300 million years, perhaps extending as far back as the Mesoarchean-Neoarchean boundary at 2.8 Ga, that suggest the presence of low level, transient or local, oxygenation. If verified, these features would not only imply an earlier origin for oxygenic photosynthesis, but also require a mechanism to decouple oxygen production from oxidation of Earth's surface environments. Most hypotheses for the GOE suggest that oxygen production by oxygenic photosynthesis is a precondition for the rise of oxygen, but that a synchronous change in atmospheric oxygen level is not required by the onset of this oxygen source. The potential lag-time in the response of Earth surface environments is related to the way that oxygen sinks, such as reduced Fe and sulfur compounds, respond to oxygen production. Changes in oxygen level imply an imbalance in the sources and sinks for oxygen. Changes in the cycling of oxygen have occurred at various times before and after the GOE, and do not appear to require corresponding changes in the intensity of oxygenic photosynthesis. The available geological constraints for these changes do not, however, disallow a direct role for this metabolism. The geological evidence for early oxygen and hypotheses for the controls on oxygen level are the basis for the interpretation of photosynthetic oxygen production as examined in this review.