The Design of the Cosmos Part 7: Precision Timing of Earth's Great Oxygenation Event

Well, I made it through my Capstone class - did very well actually. Now I have a few weeks off to catch up on my blog. I hope to spend a few weeks on the fine tuning design of the Earth - I'll probably spend the next 3 or 4 entries on Earth's fine tuning, then we'll move to the Milky Way Galaxy for our next series.

First, thanks to NASA for this amazing photo of the Earth.

Second, the fact that you can see through Earth's atmosphere in this photo is nothing but a miracle. We should have a thick atmosphere like Venus. In fact, the early Earth's atmosphere was very think, so thick that light could not penetrate to the surface from the Sun (along with much interplanetary debris in our solar system). Darkness was at its surface.

Interestingly, the Bible describes these conditions in precise detail. I have them here for you from Genesis 1 and Job 38:

Genesis 1

The Beginning

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Job 38:4-9 (New International Version)

⁴ "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶ On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-

⁷ while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸ "Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,

In the Genesis account, notice how the frame of reference changes from "outerspace" as it were in verse 1, to the surface of the Earth in verse two. This is key to correctly interpreting the passages that follow. Also in verse two, please notice that from the vantage point of a hypothetical observer on the surface of the Earth, that the Earth was dark, covered with water, and unfit for life. Next, in verse 3, God transforms the atmosphere such that for the first time, light was able to reach the surface (from the Hebrew Haya meaning "let the light be" rather than Asa meaning create light for the first time - we understand that the Sun and stars were created prior to the formation of the Earth) You may be doubting my hermenutics, but hang in there with me. Now, let's skip to Job 38 where we see God describing how He formed the Earth. Notice in verse 9 that the early Earth, which is described as bursting forth from the womb, was wrapped in thick darkness due to a very thick cloud layer. We know from modern science that this condition of the early Earth is correct. Thus, this Job 38 creation account actually gives us more data to better interpret the Genesis 1 text.

Obviously, somehow God transformed the early thick (opaque) atmosphere of Earth of mostly carbon to the present day transparent atmosphere containing 20.9% oxygen (see my previous entry regarding the formation of the Moon). This huge abundance of oxygen makes large land animals and advanced life possible. This oxygen abundance also sets Earth apart from the other rocky planets.

Hugh Ross, in his book More Than a Theory states: (page 160)

"Scientists know only one way for a planet or a moon to gain such a large amount of free oxygen - through the long-term activity of superabundant photosynthetic life."

It was the photosynthetic bacteria in Earth's oceans which played the major role in taking our Earth's atmosphere from 2 percent oxygen to over 20% oxygen roughly 2.5 billion years ago. Astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink writes about this event in an article titled "Oxygen Prepares Earth for Advanced Life." In the article Dr. Zweerink describes the early Earth (before 3 billion years ago) as having only trace amounts of free oxygen, and yet at about 2.5 billion years ago a great oxygenation event began to occur. The super abundance of marine bacteria began to fill the Earth's oxygen sinks, and once fully saturated, then began to fill the atmosphere with oxygen. This process continued for the next 2 billion years until it reached a level which could support advanced marine life. At this point, roughly 500 million years ago, the Cambrian Explosion occurred (see my previous blog entry on this topic) which produced 40 or so phyla of complex marine animals. Interestingly, since this time only five or six new phyla appeared while about fifteen have gone extinct, meaning that evolution has been going in the wrong direction all this time. Even more interestingly, the photosynthetic bacteria that we see in the fossil record within Stromatolites (which would be of the earliest of all life forms and from which we presumably all evolved) looks remarkably similar to present day photosynthetic bacteria. Why is this so interesting, you ask? Because if all life evolved from simple bacteria, why do we still see that bacteria today in living form? Shouldn't this life have evolved into other life forms?

The main point here is that a careful plan to oxygenate the Earth's atmosphere was prepared in order to bring about optimal conditions for more advanced life to appear on the scene. Without the Great Oxygenation Events in Earth's history, advanced life on Earth would not be possible.

Tune in next time as we explore the role of plate tectonics for the preparation of advance life (human life).

God bless (cheers)

Tom