Astrophysical studies indicate that the luminosity of the Sun was much lower during Earth’s early history than it has been in the Phanerozoic. In fact, radiative output was low enough to suggest that all surface water on Earth should have been frozen solid during its early history, but evidence shows that it was not. The solution to this “faint young Sun paradox” appears to lie in the presence of unusually high concentrations of greenhouse gases at the time, particularly methane and carbon dioxide. As solar luminosity gradually increased through time, concentrations of greenhouse gases would have to have been much higher than today. This circumstance would have caused Earth to heat up beyond life-sustaining levels. Therefore, greenhouse gas concentrations must have decreased proportionally with increasing solar radiation, implying a feedback mechanism to regulate greenhouse gases. One of these mechanisms might have been rock weathering, which is temperature-dependent and serves as an important sink for, rather than source of, carbon dioxide by removing sizable amounts of this gas from the atmosphere. Scientists are also looking to biological processes (many of which also serve as carbon dioxide sinks) as complementary or alternative regulating mechanisms of greenhouse gases on the young Earth.

Photosynthesis and atmospheric chemistry

The evolution by photosynthetic bacteria of a new photosynthetic pathway, substituting water (H₂O) for hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) as a reducing agent for carbon dioxide, had dramatic consequences for Earth system geochemistry. Molecular oxygen (O₂) is given off as a by-product of photosynthesis using the H₂O pathway, which is energetically more efficient than the more primitive H₂S pathway. Using H₂O as a reducing agent in this process led to the large-scale deposition of banded-iron formations, or BIFs, a source of 90 percent of present-day iron ores. Oxygen present in ancient oceans oxidized dissolved iron, which precipitated out of solution onto the ocean floors. This deposition process, in which oxygen was used up as fast as it was produced, continued for millions of years until most of the iron dissolved in the oceans was precipitated. By approximately 2 billion years ago, oxygen was able to accumulate in dissolved form in seawater and to outgas to the atmosphere. Although oxygen does not have greenhouse gas properties, it plays important indirect roles in Earth’s climate, particularly in phases of the carbon cycle. Scientists are studying the role of oxygen and other contributions of early life to the development of the Earth system.

Snowball Earth hypothesis

Geochemical and sedimentary evidence indicates that Earth experienced as many as four extreme cooling events between 750 million and 580 million years ago. Geologists have proposed that Earth’s oceans and land surfaces were covered by ice from the poles to the Equator during these events. This “Snowball Earth” hypothesis is a subject of intense study and discussion. Two important questions arise from this hypothesis. First, how, once frozen, could Earth thaw? Second, how could life survive periods of global freezing? A proposed solution to the first question involves the outgassing of massive amounts of carbon dioxide by volcanoes, which could have warmed the planetary surface rapidly, especially given that major carbon dioxide sinks (rock weathering and photosynthesis) would have been dampened by a frozen Earth. A possible answer to the second question may lie in the existence of present-day life-forms within hot springs and deep-sea vents, which would have persisted long ago despite the frozen state of Earth’s surface.

A counter-premise known as the “Slushball Earth” hypothesis contends that Earth was not completely frozen over. Rather, in addition to massive ice sheets covering the continents, parts of the planet (especially ocean areas near the Equator) could have been draped only by a thin, watery layer of ice amid areas of open sea. Under this scenario, photosynthetic organisms in low-ice or ice-free regions could continue to capture sunlight efficiently and survive these periods of extreme cold.