Invited by Prof. Wang Zheng from the Center for Advanced Science of Isotope of our department, Prof. Ariel Anbar from the Arizona State University brought an online seminar entitled “Redox Revolutions on Earth and Beyond” on November 5th, 2020. The seminar was broadcasted through Zoom internet meeting and Bilibili livestreaming. More than 250 people joined this online seminar.
Prof. Ariel Anbar reported that biological O2 production significantly predated the Great Oxidation Event based on evidence from redox sensitive metals and metal isotopes such as Mo and Tl. He also suggested that the amount of O2 in the atmosphere is a result of the balance between biological production and consumption of O2, and changes in solid Earth properties such as the mantle activity could be the reason for the accumulation of O2. At last, Prof. Anbar talked about the implication for searching for habitable world in other planets.
The seminar was well received and the audience were very interested. After the talk, Prof. Anbar had an in-depth discussion with participants through online meeting zoom.
Ariel Anbar is a professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University. He is interested in Earth’s evolution as an inhabited world, and the prospects for life beyond. His major focus is the deep time history of O2 and bioessential metals in the oceans, as deduced from the application of novel techniques in isotope geochemistry to ancient sedimentary rocks. He has published more than 150 refereed papers. Anbar is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, which awarded him the Donath Medal in 2002. He was recognized as an HHMI Professor in 2014, and elected a Fellow of the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry in 2015.
