Earth's atmosphere was primed for an 'explosion' in the diversity of life as early as 2.7 billion years ago, a study of ancient diamonds has revealed. 'We managed to study diamonds trapped in 2.7 billion year old highly preserved rock from Wawa, on Lake Superior in Canada.' 'We have no evidence of a significant change since these diamonds were formed 2.7 billion years ago,' said Dr Broadley. 'Our work shows that these conditions were present at least 2.7 billion years ago, but the diamonds we use may be much older, so it's likely that these conditions were set well before our 2.7 billion year threshold.' 'It is interesting that the upper mantle already appears degassed more than 2.7 billion years ago.

Source: Daily Mail July 05, 2021 21:56 UTC