“Dark Oxygen” Discovery Follow Up (Addressing Your Comments & Questions)! GEO GIRL

In my last video (   • Discovery of “Dark Oxygen” Produced at the...  ), we discussed the recent discovery of dark oxygen, which is molecular oxygen (O2) that is being produced at the seafloor. This is significant as it points to a source of oxygen other than photosynthesis, which changes our understanding of the oxygen cycle. But with this video came a lot of questions, which I try to address in this follow up video. These include:

1. How do these oxygen-producing nodules form? If they are acting as 'geo-batteries' to produce this oxygen, how are they recharged?
2. Where does the H go when the H2O is split during electrolysis?
3. Can we synthesize these polymetallic nodules instead of mining them?
4. How much O2 do these nodules contribute to the oceans & atmosphere compared to photosynthesis?
5. Did dark O2 drive the origin of life on Earth? If so, how? If not, what about the evolution of more complex life, like animals?

Let me know in the comments if you have any more comments or questions, I would be happy to do another follow up at some point! ;)

0:00 First dark O2 video recap
2:23 Questions to be answered in this video
3:40 How do polymetallic nodules form?
6:48 3 types of nodule – control metal sorption
8:54 How the nodule ‘batteries’ produce O2
9:47 How are the nodules ‘recharged’?
10:54 Where does the H from H2O go?
13:33 Can we synthesize nodules instead of mining them?
14:55 How much O2 do the nodules produce?
16:10 O2 is in the deep sea, regardless
17:49 Does dark O2 increase the range of marine animals?
19:58 Implications for the origin of life on Earth
23:31 Do 2.4+ Gya enzymes implicate dark O2?
24:08 Requirement of O2 for nodule formation***
26:08 Did dark O2 contribute to animal evolution?

References:
Original dark oxygen video:    • Discovery of “Dark Oxygen” Produced at the...  
Main article: Sweetman et al., 2024: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01...
CNN summary:
Scientific American summary: https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
Cronan, 2019 (Mn Nodules): https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409...
Kuhn et al., 2017 (Composition, Formation, and Occurrence of Polymetallic Nodules): https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-525...
Phillips et al., 2023 (Mn nodule metal sorption figure reference): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2023.07...
Sperling et al., 2022 (GOE figure reference): https://doi.org/10.1086/721754
Boden et al., 2021 (Timing the evolution of antioxidant enzymes in cyanobacteria. Nat Commun): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24...

GEO GIRL Website: https://www.geogirlscience.com/ (visit my website to see all my courses, shop merch, learn more about me, & donate to support the channel if you'd like!)

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Oxygen by D. Canfield: https://amzn.to/3gffbCL
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