The presence of large amounts of dissolved and free oxygen in the oceans and atmosphere may have driven most of the extant anaerobic organisms to extinction during the Great Oxygenation Event (oxygen catastrophe) about 2.4 billion years ago.
Tilstedeværelsen af store mængder opløst og fri oxygen i havene og atmosfæren kan have udryddet de fleste eksisterende anaerobiske organismer under iltkatastrofen for omkring 2,4 milliarder år siden.