In some Xiuzhen novels, the aura of heaven and earth is said to be divine, where there is enough aura, everything is thriving, and where there is little aura, it is desolate in sight.
So what exactly is the aura of heaven and earth? Recent research by Chinese scientists has laid the truth clear.
570 million years ago, the Earth suddenly went from a barren land to a vibrant place – the Cambrian explosion of life, known as one of the great mysteries of paleontology and geology.
In July 2024, the reporter learned from the University of Science and Technology of China that recent research by associate researcher Wei Wei, doctoral student Dong Linhui and Professor Huang Fang of the university found that the removal of sulfide and barium ions that are toxic to early animals in seawater prompted the Cambrian explosion of life. This discovery provides a new way to explain the Cambrian explosion of life.
So, how are sulfides and barium ions removed from seawater? To answer this question, it is necessary to stretch the timeline to the beginning of the formation of life.
Life on Earth was born about 3.5-3.8 billion years ago.
Studies of fossil age have shown that life existed as early as 3.5 billion years ago, although at that time there were only blue-green algae on Earth.
These blue-green algae absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which has accumulated over a long period of 3 billion years, raising the oxygen concentration on Earth to nearly 20%.
Wei Wei et al. found that the gradual oxidation of the ocean during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition period increased the sulfate concentration, resulting in a large amount of previously accumulated dissolved barium ions being removed in the form of barite. High concentrations of barium in water bodies inhibit the survival of aquatic animals, so the removal of sulfides and barium ions, which are toxic to animals, improved the habitability of the oceans and contributed to the Cambrian explosion of life.
The rise in oxygen concentrations is the cause of the biological explosion.
At that time, a variety of insects with huge bodies were produced. Like this.
From the evolutionary history of the earth, it can be roughly concluded that the higher the oxygen concentration, the more animals are numerous, the larger they are, and the longer they live.
If there really is a weather aura, it is most likely oxygen. This time, Chinese scientists have found the cause of the Cambrian biological explosion, and it is very likely that they have revealed the truth of "heaven and earth aura".
According to legend, in ancient times, human beings were huge and lived a long life, could it be because of the high concentration of oxygen at that time?