Question

Discuss why the great oxidation event is also called the oxidation crisis.

Answer 1

The great oxidation event(GOE), also called oxidation crisis, was the biologically induced appearance of O₂ in earth's atmosphere. the evidence suggest that event happened around 2.3 billion years ago.

cynobacteria,which appeared 200 million years before GOE, began producing oxygen by photosynthesis. before GOE any free oxygen produced was chemically captured by dissolved iron and organic matter. the GOE was the point when these oxygen sinks became saturated and could not capture all the oxygen produced by cyanobacteria thus allowing excess free oxygen to accumulate in atmosphere

Free oxygen is toxic and can obliterate anaerobic organisms. GOE is considered as a reason to wipe out most of the anaerobic organisms at that time eventually giving birth to aerobic organisms. hence this episode is also called oxidation crisis.