Evolution of Earth-like Extrasolar Planetary Atmospheres: Assessing the Atmospheres and Biospheres of Early Earth Analog Planets with a Coupled Atmosphere Biogeochemical Model.

Understanding the evolution of Earth and potentially habitable Earth-like worlds is essential to fathom our origin in the Universe. The search for Earth-like planets in the habitable zone and investigation of their atmospheres with climate and photochemical models is a central focus in exoplanetary science. Taking the evolution of Earth as a reference for Earth-like planets, a central scientific goal is to understand what the interactions were between atmosphere, geology, and biology on early Earth. The Great Oxidation Event in Earth's history was certainly caused by their interplay, but the origin and controlling processes of this occurrence are not well understood, the study of which will require interdisciplinary, coupled models. In this work, we present results from our newly developed Coupled Atmosphere Biogeochemistry model in which atmospheric O concentrations are fixed to values inferred by geological evidence. Applying a unique tool (Pathway Analysis Program), ours is the first quantitative analysis of catalytic cycles that governed O in early Earth's atmosphere near the Great Oxidation Event. Complicated oxidation pathways play a key role in destroying O, whereas in the upper atmosphere, most O is formed abiotically via CO photolysis. The O bistability found by Goldblatt et al. ( 2006 ) is not observed in our calculations likely due to our detailed CH oxidation scheme. We calculate increased CH with increasing O during the Great Oxidation Event. For a given atmospheric surface flux, different atmospheric states are possible; however, the net primary productivity of the biosphere that produces O is unique. Mixing, CH fluxes, ocean solubility, and mantle/crust properties strongly affect net primary productivity and surface O fluxes. Regarding exoplanets, different "states" of O could exist for similar biomass output. Strong geological activity could lead to false negatives for life (since our analysis suggests that reducing gases remove O that masks its biosphere over a wide range of conditions). Key Words: Early Earth-Proterozoic-Archean-Oxygen-Atmosphere-Biogeochemistry-Photochemistry-Biosignatures-Earth-like planets. Astrobiology 16, 27-54.