Disclaimer: The stuff I share is from what I've read and learned. It may be extremely vague. I only hope to present the things I learned in a more simple manner for understanding.(if it even helps) and maybe to discuss.
The great oxygenation event is the point where oxygen became a permanent part of our atmosphere that happened about 2.4billion years ago. Before that, oxygen is produced by photosynthesis, but quickly combines with elements (such as iron), and organic matter and does not stay in the atmosphere. The great oxygenation event happened when there are not enough of those reactants on the surface to react with the oxygen since they were already reacted to form compounds. This cause oxygen to remain in the atmosphere and accumulate over time.
Oxygen is produced by cyanobacteria which can carry out photosynthesis. The word 'cyano' refers to the colour of the bacteria, which is actually blue-green algae.
Note: Another reason for the fact that oxygen did not immediately accumulate in the atmosphere is that it reacted with methane first, which was present due to other bacteria at that time, to give carbon dioxide.
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