Taxonomy term

snowball earth

Coal formation nearly froze Earth

Burning coal releases carbon dioxide, which warms the planet when the gas escapes into the air. On the flip side, coal formation sequesters carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by plants, which contributes to global cooling as the planet’s greenhouse gas blanket thins. According to new research, so much carbon was removed from the atmosphere in the Carboniferous Period, when most of Earth’s coal reserves formed, that the planet became almost completely covered in ice.

21 Feb 2018

Comment: Did life start on a snowball?

Somewhere toward the end of the Hadean, life emerged on Earth. Conventional wisdom suggests the Hadean was a hothouse, but what if instead it were a global icehouse? Could life still have emerged?

06 Oct 2016

Warty algae-like sheets survived Snowball Earth events

Between about 730 million and 635 million years ago, during the Cryogenian Period of the Late Proterozoic, Earth is thought to have been almost completely covered in ice twice, events that scientists have termed “Snowball Earth” glaciations. The first global glaciation, the Sturtian, lasted from 730 million to 700 million years ago, and the second, the Marinoan, lasted from 660 million to 635 million years ago. Both glaciations likely put severe limitations on the ability of life — predominately microorganisms — to thrive. 
 
19 Nov 2015

Did volcanism drive Earth into global glaciation?

Between about 720 million and 635 million years ago, Earth suffered two big chills. During these “Snowball Earth” episodes, geologists think the world’s oceans froze over and glaciers spilled from tropical coastlines. Scientists have previously suggested that intense volcanism, unleashed by the disintegration of the supercontinent Rodinia, plunged Earth into these global glaciations. New research now lends support to this so-called fire-and-ice hypothesis.
05 Jun 2015