The world's oceans close to being starved of oxygen - and even that
could lead to mass sea life extinction which could last a million years.
University of Exeter scientists fear the modern ocean is 'on the edge of anoxia' - when the oceans are depleted of oxygen.
And while this dramatic drop in oceanic oxygen comes to a natural end, it takes about a million years,
Studying what happened during the Jurassic period, they found the drop in oxygen causes more organic carbon to be buried in sediment on the ocean floor.
This eventually leads to rising oxygen in the atmosphere which ultimately re-oxygenates the ocean. But it took a million years to get the balance right again.
University of Exeter scientists fear the modern ocean is 'on the edge of anoxia' - when the oceans are depleted of oxygen.
And while this dramatic drop in oceanic oxygen comes to a natural end, it takes about a million years,
Studying what happened during the Jurassic period, they found the drop in oxygen causes more organic carbon to be buried in sediment on the ocean floor.
This eventually leads to rising oxygen in the atmosphere which ultimately re-oxygenates the ocean. But it took a million years to get the balance right again.
Lead researcher PhD student Sarah Baker said it was now 'critical' for modern humans to limit carbon emissions to prevent this.
She said: 'Once you get into a major event like anoxia, it takes a long time for the Earth's system to rebalance.
'This shows the vital importance of limiting disruption to the carbon cycle to regulate the Earth system and keep it within habitable bounds.'
The researchers studied the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, which took place 183 million years ago.
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