Abstract
As a subject of inquiry, the chemical evolution of the atmosphere has a long and distinguished history. However, few tools have been available until recently that yield more than qualitative answers to questions regarding changes in the partial pressure of O2 and CO2 in the atmosphere during the course of earth history. The study of paleosols (ancient soils) now promises to yield semiquantitative answers to these questions. The composition of soils today reflects not only the composition of the present-day atmosphere, but also the intense chemical effects of the biosphere. The CO2 content of soil air is strongly enhanced by respiration and by the microbial oxidation of organic matter in soils. In soils which are poorly drained, the O2 content of soil air is significantly depleted by the same processes. Before the advent of higher land plants the effects of the biosphere must have been much weaker and may have been negligible compared to the effects of inorganic processes. For this reason the chemistry of paleosols is potentially useful for reconstructing the pre-mid-Ordovician evolution of the atmosphere (Holland, 1984, Chapter 7).
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Holland, H.D., Zbinden, E.A. (1988). Paleosols and the Evolution of the Atmosphere: Part I. In: Lerman, A., Meybeck, M. (eds) Physical and Chemical Weathering in Geochemical Cycles. NATO ASI Series, vol 251. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3071-1_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3071-1_4
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