May 1, 2018
Comment: Could NASA find evidence of extraterrestrial life by 2050?
by Jacob Haqq-Misra Exoplanet discoveries are featured almost weekly in the news. With ground-based observations supplementing the Kepler Space …
The EARTH archive
Oxygen
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6 articles · Page 1 of 1
January 9, 2018
A flammable planet: Fire finds its place in Earth history
We owe Earth as we know it to fire. Fire-prone ecosystems cover 40 percent of the land surface today, and fires play a key role in maintaining …
November 12, 2015
Ocean oxygen levels control seafloor carbon burial
Residual organic carbon from dead marine phytoplankton and other oceanic life can follow two pathways: It can be deeply buried in seafloor …
December 15, 2014
Benchmarks: Sept. 26, 1912: Birth of Preston Cloud, geologist who deciphered banded iron formations
Banded iron formations (BIFs) represent some of the earliest, and most controversial, evidence that the early Earth was devoid of oxygen. These …
August 19, 2014
Nutrient runoff feeding Baltic Sea dead zone
Low-oxygen, or hypoxic, deep waters now extend over an area of about 60,000 square kilometers in the Baltic Sea, a tenfold increase compared to …
January 5, 2012
Trial by Fire
What makes a fire burn? In addition to fuel (such as wood or paper) and heat, fires need oxygen. If there isn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere, …