China News Service, Beijing, March 2 (Reporter Sun Zifa) A new research paper published in the professional academic journal "Nature-Earth Science" under Springer Nature pointed out that the earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere may be about 1 billion years later. Return to an oxygen-poor, methane-rich state.
The results of the study show that the atmospheric oxygen content is not always constant on habitable planets, which has enlightening significance for humans to find life on other terrestrial planets.
According to the latest paper, one of the indicators for judging the possible life on a planet is the detectable oxygen-rich atmosphere, which shows the existence of plants and photosynthesis.
The current highly oxygenated atmosphere of the earth is a major feature of the earth's biosphere.
However, people are not sure how long these oxygen-based biological features in the earth’s atmosphere have a long life, especially in the distant future.
The authors of the paper, Kazumi Ozaki and Christopher Reinhard of Toho University, Funabashi, Japan simulated the earth system and analyzed the time scale of the earth's atmospheric conditions by simulating climate, biology, and geological processes.
They found that the Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere may last another 1 billion years, after which the rapid deoxygenation will return the atmosphere to an early state similar to that before the Great Oxidation Event 2.5 billion years ago.
The author of the paper believes that the time to detect atmospheric oxygen may only account for 20%-30% of the earth’s life cycle.
They said that if the same is true for other planets, then other biological characteristics need to be found when searching for extraterrestrial life.
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