Report: Early Oxygen Levels Reached 35% and May Have Fueled Ancient Forest Fires
jonathanturley
This scientific article is quite interesting. It appears that over the past 400 million years, the level of oxygen on Earth has varied considerably and higher oxygen levels may have contributed to ancient forest fires.
While our air is 21% oxygen today, scientists from Royal Holloway, University of London and The Field Museum in Chicago have released findings that it was much higher in the the Late Paleozoic (around 300 million years ago) and resulted in massive sized plants and insects — including the dragonfly Meganeura monyi with a wingspan of over two feet.
Oxygen levels may have been as high as 30 to 35% during the Late Paleozoic period.
