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SUMMARY:A new approach to reconstructing Phanerozoic atmospheric pO2  - Al
 ex Wolfe
DTSTART:20140923T150000Z
DTEND:20140923T160000Z
UID:TALK54498@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Andy Buckley
DESCRIPTION:Although the Phanerozoic history of atmospheric oxygen can be 
 reconstructed by mass balance models and proxies such as sedimentary pyrog
 enic carbon\, these strategies have not yielded coherent solutions\, leavi
 ng unresolved the true history of this key parameter. Building upon prior 
 efforts using the stable carbon isotopic ratios of plant resins to infer a
 tmospheric pO2\, we extend the record to 450 million years (Ma) by includi
 ng terrestrial organic matter sourced by C3 metabolism. Unlike prior effor
 ts\, we fail to retrieve a hyper-oxic Late Paleozoic atmosphere\, and inst
 ead suggest that pO2 has unlikely been significantly higher than present i
 n the Phanerozoic. These results have implications for evolutionary models
  that link atmospheric pO2 to phenomena such as gigantism in arthropods an
 d tetrapods.\n
LOCATION: Harker 1\, Department of Earth Sciences\, Downing Street
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