| Abstract: | Current photochemical models suggest that oxygen levels in the prebiological atmosphere were extremely low, most probably remaining in the range 10−8–10−14 PAL (present atmospheric level). It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that only life processes were able to overwhelm these minor O2-pressures, with free oxygen resulting from the reduction of carbon dioxide to the carbohydrate level during photoautotrophic carbon fixation using water as an electron donor (). It is by now well established that reduced (organic) carbon is a common constituent of sedimentary rocks from the very start of the geological record 3.8 Ga ago. Both direct assays and inferences derived from a carbon isotope mass balance suggest that the Corg-content of Archaean sediments was not basically different from that of geologically younger rocks. This poses the problem of the existence 3.5 Ga ago of an oxidation equivalent of such a formidable ancient Corg-reservoir which, depending on the model adopted for the growth of the sedimentary mass through time, might have amounted to between 20 and 100% of the present one. Low atmospheric oxygen pressures in the Early Precambrian that are inferred from retarded oxidation reactions, notably in the ancient continental weathering cycle, are likely, therefore, to indicate extremely rapid processes of oxygen consumption in other parts of the system (e.g., hydrosphere) rather than the general absence of photosynthetic oxidation equivalents during this time. |
