Reply to comment on “Bekker, A., Krapež, B., Karhu, J.A., 2020. Correlation of the stratigraphic cover of the Pilbara and Kaapvaal cratons recording the lead up to Paleoproterozoic Icehouse and the GOE. Earth-Science Reviews, 211, 103,389” by Pascal Philippot, Bryan A. Killingsworth, Jean-Louis Paquette, Svetlana Tessalina, Pierre Cartigny, Stefan V. Lalonde, Christophe Thomazo, Janaina N. Ávila, Vincent Busigny

Bekker et al. (2020) and Philippot et al. (2018) discussed implications of the geological and geochemical records of the Turee Creek Basin in Western Australia with regards to the understanding of the Great Oxidation Episode (GOE). Whereas Bekker et al. (2020) inferred that, due to its deposition in a foreland basin with high sedimentation rates, the succession bears a high-resolution record leading to, and of, the early stage of the GOE, Philippot et al. (2018) maintained that it provides a detailed and continuous (i.e., stratigraphically unbroken) record spanning 2.45 Ga to 2.22 Ga. The disagreement is largely rooted in different readings of the geochronological data presented in Caquineau et al. (2018) and Philippot et al. (2018), but also in different views on the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Turee Creek Basin, chemostratigraphic records of the succession, and correlation with other early Paleoproterozoic sequences. The disagreement has far-reaching implications for the GOE and its relationship to early Paleoproterozoic climate changes. Philippot et al. (2021) provided a detailed critique of our approach, allowing us to clarify our original interpretations. Based on the analysis provided below, we stand by our original reading, and provide a more nuanced view of the early Paleoproterozoic global correlations and events. By combining global records, we infer that the ~2.45–2.22 Ga time interval experienced so-far underappreciated large-scale swings in atmospheric oxygen level across the 10⁻⁵ PAL threshold that were associated with, and likely led to, early Paleoproterozoic glaciations by impacting atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas in an anoxic atmosphere.