Unearthing of ancient ocean may provide key insights to understand oxygen production on Earth

IISc (Indian Institute of Science) conducted a study in collaboration with Niigata University based in Japan, to uncover traces of an ancient ocean that had flown through the Himalayas. Droplets from that ocean had been trapped in the mineral deposits and it is being estimated that it dates back to nearly 600 million years back. This discovery could provide significant insights in the process of retracing the events of the era and the subsequent topographical changes. It becomes relevant to understanding the development of the atmospheric composition particularly with respect to production of oxygen. This was central to the evolution of life forms on Earth. 

Prakash Chandra Arya, a Ph.D. student at the Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS), IISc described the mineral deposits that have a significant proportion of Calcium and Magnesium carbonates as a “time capsule for paleo oceans”. He played a key role in the process of this study. The results of this endeavour were publicised in the Precambrian Research. Scientists speculate that the period of the study witnessed prolonged glaciation. The gap of knowledge to understand what happened between the periods of glaciation and production of oxygen might be filled to some extent through this discovery. 

They have given a hypothesis that the calcium deficiency had occurred in the glaciation period. This might have led to the growth of photosynthetic cyanobacteria. This may have resulted in large scale oxygen production.