Evolution of Atmospheric O₂ Through the Phanerozoic, Revisited

An oxygen-rich atmosphere is essential for complex animals. The early Earth had an anoxic atmosphere, and understanding the rise and maintenance of high O₂ levels is critical for investigating what drove our own evolution and for assessing the likely habitability of exoplanets. A growing number of techniques aim to reproduce changes in O₂ levels over the Phanerozoic Eon (the past 539 million years). We assess these methods and attempt to draw the reliable techniques together to form a consensus Phanerozoic O₂ curve. We conclude that O₂ probably made up around 5–10% of the atmosphere during the Cambrian and rose in pulses to ∼15–20% in the Devonian, reaching a further peak of greater than 25% in the Permo-Carboniferous before declining toward the present day. Evolutionary radiations in the Cambrian and Ordovician appear consistent with an oxygen driver, and the Devonian “Age of the Fishes” coincides with oxygen rising above 15% atm.