During the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) 2.4 - 2.35 Gyrs ago, Earth experienced a notable shift in its oxidation state. This has been widely attributed to cyanobacteria having “invented” oxygenic photosynthesis.  We present a very different view based on the fact that oxygen is released from rocks during weathering. If so, the GOE must have been caused by an influx of abiogenic O₂ into Earth’s surface environment. Minerals forming Earth’s crust contain impurity hydroxyls such as O₃SiOH. Pairs of those are known to undergo a common redox conversion, ubiquitously forming peroxy defects plus H₂:

O₃SiOH-HOSiO₃ ⇌ O₃Si/^OO\SiO₃ + H₂

Being diffusively mobile, most H2 will be lost, leaving behind bound O as peroxy. The peroxy defects release O₂ during weathering:

O₃Si/^OO\SiO₃ + H2O \(\to\) O₃SiOH-HOSiO₃ + \(\frac{1}{2}\) O₂

We suggest that this abiogenically generated O₂ was responsible for the progressive oxidation of the early Earth and that this abiotic process drove the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE).