oxygen catastrophe
oxygen catastrophe noun: an event during the oxygenation event of Earth's past, where the level of free oxygen in the environment exceeds the tolerance levels of most extant anaerobic life.
Noun
oxygen catastrophe (plural oxygen catastrophes)
- An event during the oxygenation event of Earth's past, where the level of free oxygen in the environment exceeds the tolerance levels of most extant anaerobic life.
- Such an event that theoretically occurs elsewhere, away from Earth.
Proper noun capitalized: Oxygen Catastrophe
the Oxygen Catastrophe
- Synonym of Great Oxygenation Event.
- Synonyms:
- Great Oxygenation Event
Synonyms of oxygen catastrophe
Forms of oxygen catastrophe
| plural | oxygen catastrophes |
|---|
Origin of oxygen catastrophe
From oxygen + catastrophe. From the accumulation of atmospheric oxygen, which was toxic to the anaerobic organisms existing at the time. This process led to a widespread extinction of those life forms.
Questions about oxygen catastrophe
- What does oxygen catastrophe mean?
- Oxygen catastrophe means an event during the oxygenation event of Earth's past, where the level of free oxygen in the environment exceeds the tolerance levels of most extant anaerobic life.
- What part of speech is oxygen catastrophe?
- Oxygen catastrophe can be a noun or a proper noun.
- What is the plural of oxygen catastrophe?
- The plural of oxygen catastrophe is oxygen catastrophes.
Words near oxygen catastrophe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: oxygen catastrophe (page history and authors); Oxygen Catastrophe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “oxygen catastrophe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oxygen_catastrophe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.