Recently, a research team led by Professor Li Chao from Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT) published a groundbreaking study entitled “Subduction Modulated the Long-Term Oxygenation of Earth’s Surface” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The study provides the first cross-sphere Earth system perspective demonstrating that cold plate subduction served as the “critical engine” driving the long-term oxygenation of Earth’s surface. The paper’s first author is Dr. Shi Wei of the Institute of Sedimentary Geology at CDUT. Corresponding authors are Dr. Shi Wei and Professor Li Chao. The research was conducted in collaboration with Professor Hou Mingcai of CDUT; Professor Benjamin Mills and Professor Simon Poulton of the University of Leeds, UK; Professor Michael Brown of the University of Maryland, USA; Professor Tim Johnson of Curtin University, Australia; Professor Thomas Algeo of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and the University of Cincinnati, USA; Researcher Wang Chunlian of the Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences; and Researcher Zhao Mingyu of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
“The oxidation history of Earth’s surface is not merely a collection of isolated ‘events’; rather, it may represent an irreversible, system-wide state transition driven by the thermal evolution of Earth’s deep interior. This study provides a comprehensive example of deep–surface Earth system coupling, beginning with geological records and validated through system modeling,” summarized Professor Li Chao, co-corresponding author of the study.
Publication Information: Shi, W., Li, C., Mills, B.J.W., Brown, M., Johnson, T., Algeo, T.J., Hou, M., Wang, C., Zhao, M., and Poulton, S.W. Subduction Modulated the Long-Term Oxygenation of Earth's Surface. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Vol. 123, e2534056123, pp. 1–9 (2026).
Article Link: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2534056123
