Description

The Earth's primary atmosphere, which was similar to that of the gas giant planets, was soon lost, and a secondary atmosphere was established by outgassing from the early Earth and from colliding debris. The composition of this atmosphere was probably similar to present-day volcanic emissions but with a tiny percentage of photochemically produced oxygen. In this atmosphere, early anaerobic bacterial life evolved, including photosynthesising cyanobacteria that produced oxygen.

More from this issue

A free internet resource called Sub-Surf Rocks! was launched in 2010. Its aim is to use seismic data obtained by the oil industry for enhancing...

Jan 2012
Journal Article

The Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU) is an industry education partnership providing short Earth science workshops across the UK. Following...

Jan 2012
Journal Article

I have sometimes experienced difficulties teaching students of all levels the idea of potential difference (pd) in simple series and parallel...

Jan 2012
Journal Article