The Shunga event
An immense burial of organic carbon leaves the oldest petroleum deposits on Earth.
- When
- Known to
- ± 50 million years
- Era
- Paleoproterozoic, Proterozoic
Around two billion years ago, at the close of the Lomagundi excursion, vast quantities of organic matter are buried in what is now Karelia — some deposits are up to 98% carbon. The scale is comparable to all modern oil and gas reserves combined. Burying that much reduced carbon should have released a corresponding surge of oxygen, and the event marks the end of the great Paleoproterozoic oxygen pulse.