Oxygen’s deep-Earth origins reveal how geochemical cycles birthed life—challenging anthropocentric timelines of atmospheric evolution
Original framing: “Earth's mantle was 'breathing' oxygen a billion years before it hit the atmosphere, mineral time capsules reveal” — Phys.org
Indigenous knowledge systems, such as the Diné (Navajo) concept of *Diné Bahane’*, which describes the Earth as a living entity with its own breath, align with the scientific finding that oxygen cycles are not static but dynamic and interconnected. Practices like the Māori *whakapapa* of stones and minerals, which trace the genealogies of land formations, provide a framework for understanding how geological processes are part of a larger, sacred narrative. The omission of these perspectives in mainstream science reinforces a dualism between 'primitive' spiritual beliefs and 'rational' scientific inquiry, despite how Indigenous knowledge often anticipates modern discoveries. For instance, the Wampanoag people of North America have long spoken of the Earth’s 'vital breath,' a concept now validated by the mineral time capsules described in the study.
The discovery of deep-Earth oxygen cycles forces a reckoning with how Western science has historically treated the planet as a passive resource rather than a dynamic, living system.
Indigenous knowledge systems, such as those of the Diné or Māori, have long described Earth’s breath-like vitality, yet these perspectives were excluded from the mainstream narrative until now. The historical context reveals how colonial-era science racialized debates over oxygen’s role in life, while contemporary marginalized voices—from Pacific Islander scientists to Indigenous geologists—continue to be sidelined in discussions about planetary health. The trickster lens exposes the irony of 'discovering' ancient truths while industrial practices accelerate the disruption of these cycles, and future modelling must account for how extraction threatens the very systems we now understand as foundational to life. Solution pathways, such as Indigenous-led stewardship or global treaties, offer a way forward, but they require dismantling the power structures that have long treated Earth’s interior as a frontier for exploitation rather than a sacred, interconnected network.