Study estimates oxygen loss in ancient global ocean

August 28, 2017 Jeff Ostrowick

Phys.orgreportsthat a loss of oxygen in global ocean seawater 94 million years ago led to a mass extinction of marine life that lasted for roughly half a million years.cientists have found several potential explanations for how the loss of oxygen happened. These > could include enhanced volcanic activity, increased nutrients reaching theocean, rising sea levels, and warming sea and surface temperatures. But to point a finger at any one cause (or several of them) requires knowing how fast the oxygen loss happened.

Scientists have found several potential explanations for how the loss of oxygen happened. These could include enhanced volcanic activity, increased nutrients reaching theocean, rising sea levels, and warming sea and surface temperatures. But to point a finger at any one cause (or several of them) requires knowing how fast the oxygen loss happened.

A new technique, developed by Arizona State University graduate student Chad Ostrander with colleagues at Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Florida State University (FSU), has put a timetable on the oxygen loss associated with this major ocean extinction event, which is known to science as Oceanic Anoxic Event 2.