The Lomagundi event
The largest carbon isotope excursion in Earth's history runs for 160 million years.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 160 million years
- Known to
- ± 30 million years
- Era
- Paleoproterozoic, Proterozoic
From about 2.22 to 2.06 billion years ago, marine carbonates worldwide become extraordinarily enriched in carbon-13 — the biggest and longest positive excursion ever recorded. It implies organic carbon was being buried on an unprecedented scale, which releases oxygen, and it coincides with the first great oxygen surge. Quite what drove it is still argued, with explanations ranging from continental weathering to microbial ecology.