The Great Oxygen Catastrophe

The Great Oxygen Catastrophe
cyanobacteria-memes, evolution-memes, oxygen-memes, photosynthesis-memes, extinction-memes | ScienceHumor.io

The Great Oxygen Catastrophe in meme form. About 2.4 billion years ago, cyanobacteria started photosynthesizing and pumping oxygen into the atmosphere like it was nobody's business. The anaerobic microorganisms, who were perfectly happy in their oxygen-free existence, basically got their entire ecosystem flipped upside down. Imagine throwing a pool party and someone dumps chlorine gas everywhere. That's basically what cyanobacteria did to Earth's original inhabitants. Rude.

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