From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

The "boring billion" wasn't so boring after all

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X25004819?via%3Dihub

Mid-Proterozoic expansion of passive margins and reduction in volcanic outgassing supported marine oxygenation and eukaryogenesis

Abstract
The mid-Proterozoic interval between 1800 and 800 Ma, commonly referred
to as the rCLBoring BillionrCY, was marked by the emergence of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic ancestors, a key step in the evolution of life.
This period encompassed the assembly and dispersal of two consecutive supercontinents, Nuna and Rodinia, as well as the development of
extensive ocean basins and partially oxygenated marginal seas,
supporting early eukaryotic diversification under temperate conditions. However, the role that plate tectonic processes may have played in
driving mid-Proterozoic ocean chemistry and global biochemical cycles
has remained elusive and controversial. Here, we couple a recently
developed plate tectonic model with dynamic boundaries covering the past
1.8 billion years (Ga) with a thermodynamic model to reconstruct the spatio-temporal evolution of active and passive margins, oceanic carbon reservoirs, and subduction-driven carbon recycling and outgassing. We
show that the breakup of Nuna led to a two-fold increase in the global
passive margin length over a period of re+350 Myr, peaking at re+130,000 km around 1.1 Ga. Post-Nuna continental dispersal was accompanied by
numerous plate boundary reorganizations and a long-term shortening of subduction zones, which more than halved net solid Earth COree outgassing.
The long-term reduction in carbon outgassing and, by inference,
associated global cooling, likely contributed to a reduction in
oxidative weathering, promoting O2 buildup in the atmosphere. The contemporaneous mid-Proterozoic expansion of long-lived passive margins
thus provided favourable oxygenated and temperate conditions for the diversification of aerobic eukaryotes in shallow marine environments.
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