Experts have found in their study that life on Earth emerged between 591 to 565 million years ago as the force of the magnetic field dropped and created suitable conditions for an increase in oxygen levels, according to a paper published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
The conditions allowed the evolution of ancient species on earth, reported the Newsweek report Thursday.
Experts suggested that life on Earth commenced some 3.7 billion years ago with single-celled organisms. They later evolved into multicellular around 1.7 billion years back.
The outlet reported that the animals came into being only 580 million years ago, in a period called Ediacaran.
Those creatures at that time had soft bodies but between 575 and 565 million years ago, they began transforming into complex beings because of the rise in oxygen levels.
The researchers stated: “Oxygen has long been identified as a key ‘environmental gatekeeper,’ allowing for evolutionary innovation and for meeting the energy demands of animals.”
“Although sponges and microscopic animals can survive at low levels of dissolved oxygen (as low as around 1.5 μM, equivalent to 0.5 percent present atmospheric level [PAL]), macroscopic, morphologically complex, and mobile animals require a greater amount of oxygen to support their metabolic demands,” they said.
“A complex animal ecosystem involving long food chains and predators requires still greater amounts of oxygen.”
“Multiple lines of geochemical evidence point to a possible increase in atmospheric and oceanic O2 levels in the late Ediacaran Period, specifically in the period of around 575–565 Ma,” experts noted.
This study allowed scientists to understand more about the evolution of Earth and life on the planet.
