The Snowball Earth hypothesis as it was originally proposed^[1] suggests that the Earth was entirely covered by ice during parts of the Cryogenian period, from 790 to 630 million years ago. A hypothesis (from Greek) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon (an event that is observable or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 Ice is a Solid phase, usually crystalline, of a Non-metalic substance that is liquid or gas at Room temperature, such as Ammonia The Cryogenian (from Greek cryos "cold" and genesis "birth" is a Geologic period that lasted from. It was developed to explain sedimentary deposits generally regarded as of glacial origin at seemingly tropical latitudes, and other enigmatic features of the Cryogenian geological record. Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock types (the others being igneous and Metamorphic rock) "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. The Tropics are centered on the Equator and limited in Latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' (23 Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the The existence of a Snowball Earth remains controversial, and is contested by various scientists who dispute the geophysical feasibility of a completely frozen ocean, or the geological evidence on which the hypothesis is based.

The initiation of a Snowball Earth event would involve some initial cooling mechanism, followed by runaway cooling due to increasing ice accumulation. The initial cooling could be facilitated by an equatorial continental distribution, which would increase the Earth's albedo near the equator, where most solar radiation is incident. The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun This arrangement would also allow rapid, unchecked weathering of continental rocks, a process that absorbs the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, resulting in further cooling. Greenhouse gases are gaseous constituents of the atmosphere bothnatural and anthropogenic that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of thermal infrared Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single Alternatively, changes in solar energy output or perturbations of Earth's orbit could act as a trigger. However the initial cooling comes about, resultant ice accumulation would reflect solar energy back to space, further cooling the atmosphere and generating more ice cover. This feedback loop could eventually produce a frozen equator as cold as modern-day Antarctica. To break out of this icy condition either the level of solar energy incident on Earth would have to increase significantly, or huge quantities of greenhouse gases, emitted primarily by volcanic activity, would have to accumulate over millions of years. The eventual melting would perhaps take as little as 1,000 years.

While the presence of glaciers is not disputed, the idea that the entire planet was covered in ice is more contentious, leading some scientists to posit a "slushball Earth", in which a band of ice-free, or ice-thin, waters remains around the equator, allowing for a continued hydrologic cycle. The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the The Earth 's Water is always in movement and the water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on above This appeals to scientists who observe certain features of the sedimentary record that can only be formed under open water, or rapidly moving ice (which would require somewhere ice-free to move to). Recent research observed geochemical cyclicity in clastic rocks, showing that the "Snowball" periods were punctuated by warm spells, similar to ice age cycles in recent Earth history. Clastic rocks are composed of fragments or clasts, of pre-existing rock. An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets Attempts to construct computer models of a Snowball Earth have also struggled to accommodate global ice cover without fundamental changes in the laws and constants which govern the planet.

A Snowball Earth has profound implications in the history of life on Earth. Life is a state that distinguishes Organisms from non-living objects such as non-life and dead organisms being manifested by growth through Metabolism While many refugia have been postulated, global ice cover would certainly have ravaged ecosystems dependent on sunlight. In biology a refugium (plural refugia is a location of an isolated or Relict Population of a once widespread animal or plant species An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( Geochemical evidence from rocks associated with low-latitude glacial deposits have been interpreted to show a crash in oceanic life during the glacials. The melting of the ice may have presented many new opportunities for diversification, and may indeed have driven the rapid evolution which took place at the end of the Cryogenian period.

One computer simulation of conditions during the Snowball Earth period. ^[2]

Evidence

The Snowball Earth hypothesis was originally devised to explain the apparent presence of glaciers at tropical latitudes. ^[3] Modelling suggested that once glaciers spread to within 30° of the equator, an albedo-driven positive feedback would result in the ice rapidly advancing to the equator itself. The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun ^*[4] Therefore, the presence of glacial deposits seemingly within the tropics appeared to point to global ice cover.

Critical to an assessment of the validity of the theory, therefore, is an understanding of the reliability and significance of the evidence that led to the belief that ice ever reached the tropics. This evidence must prove two things:

1. that a bed contains sedimentary structures that could only have been created by glacial activity;
2. that the bed lay within the tropics when it was deposited.

During a period of global glaciation, it must also be demonstrated that

3. glaciers were active at different global locations at the same time, and that no other deposits of the same age are in existence.

This latter point is very difficult to prove. Before the Ediacaran, the biostratigraphic markers usually used to correlate rocks are absent; therefore there is no way to prove that rocks in different places across the globe were deposited contemporaneously. The best we can do is to estimate the age of the rocks using radiometric methods, which are rarely accurate to better than ± a million years or so. ^[5]

The first two points are often the source of contention on a case-to-case basis. Many glacial features can also be created by non-glacial means, and estimating the latitude of landmasses even as little as 200 million years ago can be riddled with difficulties. ^[6]

Palaeomagnetism

One reconstruction of continental locations during Snowball Earth, showing where glacial deposits have been found. ^[2]

The Snowball Earth hypothesis was first posited in order to explain what were then considered to be glacial deposits near the equator.

Since continents drift with time, ascertaining their position at a given point in history is far from trivial. In addition to considerations of how the continents would have fitted together, the latitude at which a rock was deposited can be constrained by palaeomagnetism.

When sedimentary rocks form, magnetic minerals within them tend to align themselves with the Earth's magnetic field. Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock types (the others being igneous and Metamorphic rock) Through the precise measurement of this palaeomagnetism, it is possible to estimate the latitude (but not the longitude) where the rock matrix was deposited. Paleomagnetism is the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field preserved in various Magnetic Minerals through time Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the Longitude (ˈlɒndʒɪˌtjuːd or ˈlɒŋgɪˌtjuːd symbolized by the Greek character Lambda (λ is the east-west Geographic coordinate measurement Paleomagnetic measurements have indicated that some sediments of glacial origin in the Neoproterozoic rock record were deposited within 10 degrees of the equator,^[7] although the accuracy of this reconstruction is in question. The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1000 to 542 +/- 0 ^[5] This palaeomagnetic location of apparently glacial sediments (such as dropstones) has been taken to suggest that glaciers extended to sea-level in the tropical latitudes. It is not clear whether this can be taken to imply a global glaciation, or the existence of localised, possibly land-locked, glacial regimes. ^[8] Others have even suggested that most data do not constrain any glacial deposits to within 25° of the equator. ^[9]

Skeptics suggest that the palaeomagnetic data could be corrupted if the Earth's magnetic field was substantially different from today's. Depending on the rate of cooling of the Earth's core, it is possible that during the Proterozoic, its magnetic field did not approximate a dipolar distribution, with a North and South pole roughly aligning with the planet's axis as they do today. In Physics, a magnetic field is a Vector field that permeates space and which can exert a magnetic force on moving Electric charges In physics there are two kinds of dipoles ( Hellènic: di(s- = two- and pòla = pivot hinge An electric dipole is a Instead, a hotter core may have circulated more vigorously and given rise to 4, 8 or more poles. Paleomagnetic data would then have to be re-interpreted as particles could align pointing to a 'West Pole' rather than the North Pole.

Another weakness of reliance on palaeomagnetic data is the difficulty in determining whether the magnetic signal recorded is original, or whether it has been reset by later activity. For example, a mountain-building orogeny releases hot water as a by-product of metamorphic reactions; this water can circulate to rocks thousands of km away and reset their magnetic signature. This makes the authenticity of rocks older than a few million years difficult to determine without painstaking mineralogical observations. ^[10]

There is currently only one deposit, the Elatina deposit of Australia, that was indubitably deposited at low latitudes; its depositional date is well constrained, and the signal is demonstrably original. ^[11]

Global ice sheets may have delayed or prevented the establishment of multicellular life.

Glacial deposits at low latitudes

Sedimentary rocks that are deposited by glaciers have distinctive features that enable their identification. Long before the advent of the Snowball Earth hypothesis many Neoproterozoic sediments had been interpreted as having a glacial origin, including some apparently at tropical latitudes at the time of their deposition. The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1000 to 542 +/- 0 However, it is worth remembering that many sedimentary features traditionally associated with glaciers can also be formed by other means. ^[12] Thus the glacial origin of many of the key occurrences for Snowball Earth has been contested. ^[5] As of 2007, there is only one "very reliable" – still challenged^[5] – datum point identifying tropical tillites,^[7] which makes statements of equatorial ice cover somewhat presumptuous. Evidence of possible glacial origin of sediment includes:

• Dropstones (stones dropped into marine sediments), which can be deposited by glaciers or other phenomena. Dropstones are isolated fragments of rock found within finer-grained water-deposited Sedimentary rocks They range in size from small pebbles to boulders ^[13]
• Varves (annual sediment layers in periglacial lakes), which can form at higher temperatures. A varve is an annual layer of Sediment or Sedimentary rock. The word 'varve' is derived from the Swedish word varv whose ^[14]
• Glacial striations (formed by embedded rocks scraped against bedrock): similar striations are from time to time formed by mudflows or tectonic movements. Glacial striations or glacial grooves are scratches or gouges cut into Bedrock by process of glacial abrasion. Mudslide redirects here it is also the name of a cocktail. A mudflow or mudslide is the most rapid (up to 80 km/h / 50 mph ^[15]
• Diamictites (poorly sorted conglomerates). Diamictite (ˌdaɪəˈmɪktaɪt from Greek δια (dia- through and µεικτός (meiktós mixed is a poorly or non-sorted conglomerate with a wide range of clasts up Originally described as glacial till, most were in fact formed by debris flows. Till is unsorted glacial sediment Glacial drift is a general term for the coarsely graded and extremely heterogeneous Sediments of glacial origin Debris flows are often referred to as mudslides Mudflows jökulhlaups, or debris Avalanches. ^[5]

Open-water deposits

It appears that some deposits formed during the Snowball period could only have been formed in the presence of an active hydrological cycle. Bands of glacial deposits up to hundreds of meters thick, separated by small (meters) bands of non-glacial sediments, demonstrate that glaciers were melting and re-forming repeatedly; solid oceans would not permit this scale of deposition. ^[16] It is considered possible that ice streams such as seen in Antarctica today could be responsible for these sequences. An ice stream is a region of an Ice sheet that moves significantly faster than the surrounding Ice. Further, sedimentary features that could only form in open water, for example wave-formed ripples, far-traveled ice-rafted debris and indicators of photosynthetic activity, can be found throughout sediments dating from the 'Snowball Earth' periods. In Sedimentology, wave-formed ripples or wave-formed ripple marks are a feature of Sediments ( Sandstones Limestones Siltstones Ice rafting is the transport of various material by Ice. Various objects deposited on ice may eventually become embedded in the ice While these may represent 'oases' of meltwater on a completely frozen Earth,^[17] computer modelling suggests that large areas of the ocean must have remained ice-free arguing that a "hard" snowball is not plausible in terms of energy balance and general circulation models. Meltwater is the water released by the Melting of Snow or Ice, including glacial ice and Ice shelfs over oceans ^[18]

Carbon isotope ratios: reduced photosynthesis?

There are two stable isotopes of carbon in sea water: carbon-12 (¹²C) and the rare carbon-13 (¹³C), which makes up about 1. Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal" tópos = "site place" are any of the different types of atoms ( Nuclides Seawater is Water from a Sea or Ocean. On average seawater in the world's oceans has a Salinity of about 3 Carbon-12 is the most abundant of the two stable Isotopes of the element Carbon, accounting for 98 Carbon-13 ( 13C) is a natural stable Isotope of Carbon and one of the Environmental isotopes. 109 percent of all carbon isotopes.

Biochemical processes, of which photosynthesis is one, tend to preferentially incorporate the lighter ¹²C isotope. Photosynthesis is a Metabolic pathway that converts Light Energy into Chemical energy. Thus ocean-dwelling photosynthesizers, both protists and algae, tend to be very slightly depleted in ¹³C, relative to the abundance found in the primary volcanic sources of the Earth's carbon. Protists (ˈproʊtɨst are a diverse group of eukaryotic Microorganisms Historically protists were treated as the kingdom Protista but this Algae ( sing. alga are a large and diverse group of simple typically Autotrophic organisms ranging from Unicellular to Multicellular forms Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Therefore, an ocean with photosynthetic life will have a higher ¹²C/¹³C ratio within organic remains, and a lower ratio in corresponding ocean water. The organic component of the lithified sediments will forever remain very slightly, but measurably, depleted in ¹³C.

During the proposed episode of Snowball Earth, there are rapid and extreme negative excursions in the ratio of ¹³C to ¹²C. ^[19] This is consistent with a deep freeze that killed off most or nearly all photosynthetic life although other mechanisms, such as clathrate release, can also cause such perturbations. Close analysis of the timing of ¹³C 'spikes' in deposits across the globe allows the recognition of four, possibly five, glacial events in the late Neoproterozoic. ^[20]

Banded iron formations (BIFs)

2. 1 billion year old rock with black-band ironstone

Banded iron formations are sedimentary rocks of layered iron oxide and iron-poor chert. Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIF s are a distinctive type of rock often found in primordial ( Precambrian) Sedimentary Altogether there are sixteen known Iron Oxides and oxyhydroxides Chert (ˈtʃɝt is a fine-grained Silica -rich Microcrystalline, Cryptocrystalline or Microfibrous Sedimentary rock that may contain In the presence of oxygen, iron naturally rusts and becomes insoluble in water. Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 The banded iron formations are commonly very old and their deposition is often related to the oxidation of the Earth's atmosphere during the Paleoproterozoic era, when dissolved iron in the ocean came in contact with photosynthetically-produced oxygen and precipitated out as iron oxide. The Paleoproterozoic (ˌpeɪlɪoʊˌproʊtərəˈzoʊɪk also spelled Palaeoproterozoic) is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the The bands were produced at the tipping point between an anoxic and an oxygenated ocean. The tipping point in the study of the Earth 's changing climate is the point at which change due to human activity brings about sufficient new processes in nature Since today's atmosphere is oxygen rich (nearly 21 percent by volume) and in contact with the oceans, it is not possible to accumulate enough iron oxide to deposit a banded formation. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the The only extensive iron formations that were deposited after the Paleoproterozoic (after 1. 8 billion years ago) are associated with Cryogenian glacial deposits.

For such iron-rich rocks to be deposited there would have to be anoxia in the ocean, so that much dissolved iron (as ferrous oxide) could accumulate before it met an oxidant that would precipitate it as ferric oxide. Iron(II oxide, also known as ferrous oxide, iron oxide/oxidized iron or more commonly rusted Ferric is a term that means containing or having to do with Iron, derived from the Latin word ferrum, meaning "iron" For the ocean to become anoxic it must have limited gas exchange with the oxygenated atmosphere. Proponents of the hypothesis argue that the reappearance of BIF in the sedimentary record is a result of limited oxygen levels in an ocean sealed by sea ice,^[21] while detractors suggest that the rarity of the BIF deposits may indicate that they formed in inland seas. Being isolated from the oceans, such lakes may have been stagnant and anoxic at depth, much like today's Black Sea; a sufficient input of iron could provide the necessary conditions for BIF formation. The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey ^[5] A further difficulty in suggesting that BIFs marked the end of the glaciation is that they are found interbedded with glacial sediments. ^[8] BIFs are also strikingly absent during the Marinoan glaciation.

Cap carbonate rocks

Volcanoes may have had a role in replenishing CO₂, possibly ending the global ice age that was the Snowball Earth during the Cryogenian Period. The Cryogenian (from Greek cryos "cold" and genesis "birth" is a Geologic period that lasted from.

Around the top of Neoproterozoic glacial deposits there is commonly a sharp transition into a chemically precipatated sedimentary limestone or dolostone metres to tens of metres thick. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Dolostone is a sedimentary Carbonate rock that contains a high percentage of the Mineral Dolomite. ^[22] These cap carbonates sometimes occur in sedimentary successions that have no other carbonate rocks, suggesting that their deposition is result of a profound aberration in ocean chemistry. ^[23]

These cap carbonates have unusual chemical composition, as well as strange sedimentary structures that are often interpreted as large ripples. ^[24] The formation of such sedimentary rocks could be caused by a large influx of positively-charged ions, as would be produced by rapid weathering during the extreme greenhouse following a Snowball Earth event. An ion is an Atom or Molecule which has lost or gained one or more Valence electrons giving it a positive or negative electrical charge The δ¹³C isotopic signature of the cap carbonates is near -5‰, consistent with the value of the mantle — such a low value is usually/could be taken to signify an absence of life, since photosynthesis usually acts to raise the value; alternatively the release of methane deposits could have lowered it from a higher value, and counterbalance the effects of photosynthesis.

The precise mechanism involved in the formation of cap carbonates is not clear, but the most cited explanation suggests that at the melting of a Snowball Earth, water would dissolve the abundant CO₂ from the atmosphere to form carbonic acid, which would fall as acid rain. An atmosphere (from Greek ατμός - atmos, " Vapor " + σφαίρα - sphaira, " Sphere " Carbonic acid (ancient name acid of air or aerial acid) has the formula H2CO3 Acid rain is Rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually Acidic It has harmful effects on plants aquatic animals and infastructure This would weather exposed silicate and carbonate rock (including readily-attacked glacial debris), releasing large amounts of calcium, which when washed into the ocean would form distinctively textured layers of carbonate sedimentary rock. For the Artificial intelligence Androids of the 1990s Science fiction series Space Above and Beyond, see Silicate (AI In Chemistry, a carbonate is a salt or Ester of Carbonic acid. In Geology, rock is a naturally occurring aggregate of Minerals and/or Mineraloids The Earth's outer solid layer the ‘ Lithosphere Calcium (ˈkælsiəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Ca and Atomic number 20 Such an abiotic "cap carbonate" sediment can be found on top of the glacial till that gave rise to the Snowball Earth hypothesis. In Biology, abiotic components are non-living Chemical and Physical factors in the environment. Cap carbonates are layers of distinctively textured Carbonate rocks which typically form the uppermost layer of Sedimentary sequences reflecting major glaciations

However, there are some problems with the designation of a glacial origin to cap carbonates. Firstly, the high carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere would cause the oceans to become acidic, and dissolve any carbonates contained within — starkly at odds with the deposition of cap carbonates. Further, the thickness of some cap carbonates is far above what could reasonably be produced in the relatively quick deglaciations. The cause is further weakened by the lack of cap carbonates above many sequences of clear glacial origin at a similar time and the occurrence of similar carbonates within the sequences of proposed glacial origin. ^[5] An alternative mechanism, which may have produced the Doushantuo cap carbonate at least, is the rapid, widespread release of methane. The Doushantuo Formation is a lagerstätte in Guizhou Province China that is notable for being one of the oldest Fossil beds to contain highly This accounts for incredibly low - as low as 48‰ - δ¹³C values - as well as unusual sedimentary features which appear to have been formed by the flow of gas through the sediments. ^[25]

Changing acidity

Isotopes of the element boron suggest that the pH of the oceans dropped dramatically before and after the Marinoan snowball event. Boron (ˈbɔərɒn is a Chemical element with Atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. pH is the measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a Solution. ^[26] This may indicate a build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, some of which would dissolve into the oceans to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid (ancient name acid of air or aerial acid) has the formula H2CO3 Although the boron variations may be evidence of extreme climate change, they need not imply a global glaciation.

Space dust

The Earth's surface is very depleted in the element iridium, which primarily resides in the Earth's core. Iridium (ɪˈrɪdiəm is a Chemical element that has the symbol Ir and Atomic number 77 The inner core of the Earth, its innermost layer as detected by seismological studies, is a primarily solid Sphere about in radius only about 70% The only significant source of the element at the surface is cosmic particles that reach Earth. Environmental Radioactivity is the study of radioactive materials in the Human environment. During a Snowball Earth, iridium would accumulate on the ice sheets, and when the ice melted the resulting layer of sediment would be rich in iridium. An iridium anomaly has been discovered at the base of the cap carbonate formations, and has been used to suggest that the glacial episode lasted for at least 3 million years,^[27] but this does not necessarily imply a global extent to the glaciation; indeed a similar anomaly could be explained by the impact of a large extra-planetary object, such as a meteor. ^[28]

Cyclic climate fluctuations

Using the ratio of mobile cations to those that remain in soils during chemical weathering (the chemical index of alteration), it has been shown that chemical weathering varied in a cyclic fashion within a glacial succession, increasing during interglacial periods and decreasing during cold and arid glacial periods. An ion is an Atom or Molecule which has lost or gained one or more Valence electrons giving it a positive or negative electrical charge Weathering is the decomposition of earth rocks, Soils and their Minerals through direct contact with the planet's Atmosphere. ^[29] This pattern, if a true reflection of events, suggests that the "snowball Earths" bore a stronger resemblance to Pleistocene ice age cycles than to a completely frozen Earth. There have been four major periods of glaciation in the Earth's past An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets

What's more, glacial sediments of the Portaskaig formation in Scotland clearly show interbedded cycles of glacial and shallow marine sediments. Port Askaig is a Port Village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Scotland. ^[30] The significance of these deposits is highly reliant upon their dating. Glacial sediments are difficult to date, and the closest dated bed to the Portaskaig group is 8km stratigraphically above the beds of interest. Its dating to 600Ma means the beds can be tentatively correlated to the Sturtian glaciation, but they may represent the advance or retreat of a Snowball Earth.

^ Further modelling shows that ice can in fact get as close as 25° or closer to the equator without initiating total glaciation. ^[10]

The hypothesis

Initiating "Snowball Earth"

A tropical distribution of the continents is, perhaps counter-intuitively, necessary to allow the initiation of a Snowball Earth. ^[31] Firstly, tropical continents are more reflective than open ocean, and so absorb less of the sun's heat: most absorption of solar energy on Earth today occurs in tropical oceans. ^[32]

Further, tropical continents are subject to more rainfall, which leads to increased river discharge — and erosion. When exposed to air, silicate rocks undergo weathering reactions which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For the Artificial intelligence Androids of the 1990s Science fiction series Space Above and Beyond, see Silicate (AI These reactions proceed in the general form: Rock-forming mineral + CO₂ + H₂O → cations + bicarbonate + SiO₂. An example of such a reaction is the weathering of wollastonite:

CaSiO₃ + 2CO₂ + H₂O → Ca²⁺ + SiO₂ + 2HCO₃^-

The released calcium cations react with the dissolved bicarbonate in the ocean to form calcium carbonate as a chemically precipitated sedimentary rock. Calcium (ˈkælsiəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Ca and Atomic number 20 In Inorganic chemistry, bicarbonate ( IUPAC -recommended nomenclature hydrogencarbonate) is an intermediate form in the Deprotonation Calcium carbonate is a Chemical compound with the Chemical formula Ca[[Carbon C]] O 3 Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock types (the others being igneous and Metamorphic rock) This transfers carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air into the geosphere, and, in steady-state on geologic time scales, offsets the carbon dioxide emitted from volcanoes into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single The term Geosphere is often used to refer to the densest parts of Earth which consist mostly of rock and Regolith. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the

A paucity of suitable sediments for analysis makes precise continental distribution during the Neoproterozoic difficult to establish. ^[33] Some reconstructions point towards polar continents — which have been a feature of all other major glaciations, providing a point upon which ice can nucleate. Changes in ocean circulation patterns may then have provided the trigger of snowball Earth. ^[34]

Additional factors that may have contributed to the onset of the Neoproterozoic Snowball include the introduction of atmospheric free oxygen, which may have reached sufficient quantities to react with methane in the atmosphere, oxidizing it to carbon dioxide, a much weaker greenhouse gas,^[35] and a younger — thus fainter — sun, which would have emitted 6 percent less radiation in the Neoproterozoic. Methane is a Chemical compound with the molecular formula. It is the simplest Alkane, and the principal component of Natural gas. ^[5]

Normally, as the Earth gets colder due to natural climatic fluctuations and changes in incoming solar radiation, the cooling slows these weathering reactions. As a result, less carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and the Earth warms as this greenhouse gas accumulates — this 'negative feedback' process limits the magnitude of cooling. Negative Feedback feeds part of a System 's output inverted into the system's input generally with the result that fluctuations are attenuated During the Cryogenian period, however, the Earth's continents were all at tropical latitudes, which made this moderating process less effective, as high weathering rates continued on land even as the Earth cooled. The Cryogenian (from Greek cryos "cold" and genesis "birth" is a Geologic period that lasted from. This let ice advance beyond the polar regions. Once ice advanced to within 30° of the equator,^[36] a positive feedback could ensue such that the increased reflectiveness (albedo) of the ice led to further cooling and the formation of more ice, until the whole Earth is ice covered. The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun

Polar continents, due to low rates of evaporation, are too dry to allow substantial carbon deposition — restricting the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that can be removed from the carbon cycle. Evaporation is the process by which Molecules in a Liquid state (e A gradual rise of the proportion of the isotope carbon-13 relative to carbon-12 in sediments pre-dating "global" glaciation indicates that CO₂ draw-down before snowball Earths was a slow and continuous process. Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal" tópos = "site place" are any of the different types of atoms ( Nuclides ^[37]

The start of Snowball Earths are always marked by a sharp downturn in the δ¹³C value of sediments,^[38] a hallmark that may be attributed to a crash in biological productivity as a result of the cold temperatures and ice-covered oceans.

During the frozen period

Global temperature fell so low that the equator was as cold as modern-day Antarctica. ^[39] This low temperature was maintained by the reflective ice, its high albedo resulting in most incoming solar energy being reflected back into space. The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun A lack of heat-retaining clouds, caused by water vapor freezing out of the atmosphere, amplified this effect.

Breaking out of global glaciation

The carbon dioxide levels necessary to unfreeze the Earth have been estimated as being 350 times what they are today, about thirteen percent of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single ^[40] Since the Earth was almost completely covered with ice, carbon dioxide could not be withdrawn from the atmosphere by the weathering of siliceous rocks. Siliceous rocks are Sedimentary rocks that have Silica (SiO2 as the principal constituent Over 4 to 30 million years, enough CO₂ and methane, mainly emitted by volcanoes, would accumulate to finally cause enough greenhouse effect to make surface ice melt in the tropics until a band of permanently ice-free land and water developed;^[41] this would be darker than the ice, and thus absorb more energy from the sun — initiating a "positive feedback. Methane is a Chemical compound with the molecular formula. It is the simplest Alkane, and the principal component of Natural gas. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Positive feedback, sometimes referred to as "cumulative causation" is a Feedback loop system in which the system responds to perturbation in the same direction "

On the continents, the melting of glaciers would release massive amounts of glacial deposit, which would erode and weather. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. The resulting sediments supplied to the ocean would be high in nutrients such as phosphorus, which combined with the abundance of CO₂ would trigger a cyanobacteria population explosion, which would cause a relatively rapid reoxygenation of the atmosphere, which may have contributed to the rise of the Ediacaran biota and the subsequent Cambrian Explosion — a higher oxygen concentration allowing large multicellular lifeforms to develop. Phosphorus, (ˈfɒsfərəs is the Chemical element that has the symbol P and Atomic number 15 Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria or Cyanophyta, is a phylum of Bacteria that obtain their energy The Ediacara (ˌiːdɪˈækərə formerly Vendian) biota are ancient lifeforms of the Ediacaran Period which represent the earliest known complex The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the seemingly rapid appearance of most major groups of complex Animals around, as evidenced by the This positive feedback loop would melt the ice in geological short order, perhaps less than 1,000 years; replenishment of atmospheric oxygen and depletion of the CO₂ levels would take further millennia. Positive feedback, sometimes referred to as "cumulative causation" is a Feedback loop system in which the system responds to perturbation in the same direction A millennium (pl millennia) is a period of Time equal to one thousand Years (from Latin la mille, thousand and la annum

It is possible that carbon dioxide levels fell enough for Earth to freeze again; this cycle may have repeated until the continents had drifted to more polar latitudes. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other ^[42]

Opposing the hypothesis

The hypothesis has been called into question on many of its finer points. While it is in the most part consistent with some interpretations of the available evidence, many scientists argue that much of the evidence on which the theory hangs is too weakly supported. For instance, many continental reconstructions do not place the continents in the equatorial position required for the mechanism postulated for the initiation of Snowball Earth to come into play. ^[43]

The weightiest argument against the hypothesis is evidence of fluctuation in ice cover and melting during "Snowball Earth" deposits. Such deposits could represent either the beginning or end of a Snowball, thus losing a data point in the support of Snowball Earth, or be contemporaneous with the Snowball, thus disproving any theory of continuous total ice cover. Proof of such melting comes from evidence of glacial dropstones,^[16] geochemical evidence of climate cyclicity,^[29] and interbedded glacial and shallow marine sediments. ^[30] A longer record from Oman, well constrained to within 20° of the equator, covers the period from 712 to 545 million years ago - a time span containing the Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations - and shows that this latitude was largely free of ice almost continually throughout the period. ^[44]

It does not seem mathematically possible to create a scenario in which the entirety of the globe's oceans freeze over;^[45] in addition, the levels of CO₂ necessary to melt a global ice cover have been calculated to be 120,000 ppm^?, which is considered by some to be unreasonably huge.

Mathematical analysis of other parts of the Snowball Earth hypothesis also produce results at odds to the geological record. There is no sign of there being the 1,000 times increase in weathering necessary to draw CO₂ down from the atmosphere,^[46] nor does data support a prolonged shutdown of the biological pump. ^[46]

^  Pre-industrial atmospheric levels were 280ppm.

Alternate explanations

Several alternatives have been put forwards to explain the evidence observed.

"Zipper rift" hypothesis

Some scholars suggest that the Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth was in fact no different from any other glaciation in Earth's history, and that efforts to find a single cause are likely to end in failure. ^[5] The "Zipper rift" hypothesis proposes two pulses of continental "unzipping" — first, the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, forming the proto-Pacific ocean; then the splitting of the continent Baltica from Laurentia, forming the proto-Atlantic — coincided with the glaciated periods. For the Genus of Metalmark butterflies, see Rodinia (butterfly. Baltica redirects here For the Russian beer, see Baltika Breweries Baltica is a name applied by geologists to a late- Proterozoic, Laurentia (also known as the North American craton) like all Craton land was created as continents moved about the surface of the Earth The associated tectonic uplift would form high plateaus, just as the East African rift is responsible for high topography; this high ground could then host glaciers. The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by English explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trough approximately in length that runs Banded iron formations have been taken as unavoidable evidence for global ice cover, since they require dissolved iron ions and anoxic waters to form; however, the limited extent of the Neoproterozoic banded iron deposits means that they may not have formed in frozen oceans, but instead in inland seas. Such seas can experience a wide range of chemistries; high rates of evaporation could concentrate iron ions, and a periodic lack of circulation could allow anoxic bottom water to form. Continental rifting, with associated subsidence, tends to produce such landlocked water bodies. This rifting, and associated subsidence, would produce the space for the fast deposition of sediments, negating the need for an immense and rapid melting to raise the global sea levels.

High-obliquity hypothesis

A competing theory to explain the presence of ice on the equatorial continents was that the Earth's axial tilt was quite high, in the vicinity of 60°, which would place the Earth's land in high "latitudes", although supporting evidence is scarce. In Astronomy, axial tilt is the Inclination angle of a planet's rotational axis in relation to its orbital plane. ^[47] A less extreme possibility would be that it was merely the Earth's magnetic pole that wandered to this inclination, as the magnetic readings which suggested ice-filled continents depends on the magnetic and rotational poles being relatively similar (there is some evidence to believe that this is the case). In either of these two situations, the freeze would be limited to relatively small areas, as is the case today; severe changes to the Earth's climate are not necessary.

Inertial interchange true polar wander

The evidence for low latitude glacial deposits during the supposed Snowball Earth episodes has been reinterpreted via the concept of inertial interchange true polar wander (IITPW). ^[48][49] This theory, created to explain palaeomagnetic data, suggests that the continents drifted far faster during the late Neoproterozoic, allowing glacial deposits to form at the poles before continents returned to the equator, when palaeomagnetic beds were laid down. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other While the physics behind the proposition is sound, the removal of one flawed data point from the original study rendered the application of the concept in these circumstances unwarranted. ^[50]

Survival of life through frozen periods

A black smoker, a type of hydrothermal vent

A tremendous glaciation would curtail plant life on Earth, thus letting the atmospheric oxygen be drastically depleted and perhaps even disappear, and thus allow non-oxidized iron-rich rocks to form. A black smoker or sea vent is a type of Hydrothermal vent found on the Ocean floor. Detractors argue that this kind of glaciation would have made life extinct entirely; however, microfossils such as stromatolites and oncolites prove that in shallow marine environments at least, life did not suffer any perturbation, but that trophic complexity survived the cold period unscathed. Stromatolites (from Greek στρώμα strōma, mattress bed stratum and λιθος lithos, rock are layered accretionary Structures formed in Oncolites are sedimentary structures formed out of oncoids, which are layered spherical growth structures formed by Cyanobacterial growth ^[51] Proponents counter that it may have been possible for life to survive in these ways:

• Reservoirs of anaerobic and low-oxygen life powered by chemicals in deep oceanic hydrothermal vents surviving in Earth's deep oceans and crust; but photosynthesis would not have been possible there. An anaerobic organism is any Organism that does not require Oxygen for growth and may even die in its presence A hydrothermal vent is a Fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated Water issues In Geology, a crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet or moon Photosynthesis is a Metabolic pathway that converts Light Energy into Chemical energy.
• As eggs and dormant cells and spores deep-frozen into ice right through the worst phases of the frozen period.
• Under the ice layer, in chemolithotrophic (mineral-metabolizing) ecosystems theoretically resembling those in existence in modern glacier beds, high-alpine and Arctic talus permafrost, and basal glacial ice. A lithotroph is an Organism that uses an Inorganic substrate (usually of mineral origin to obtain reducing equivalents for use in biosynthesis (e An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( This is especially plausible in areas of volcanism or geothermal activity. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the In Geology, geothermal refers to heat sources within the planet ^[52]
• In deep ocean regions far from the supercontinent Rodinia or its remnants as it broke apart and drifted on the tectonic plates, which may have allowed for some small regions of open water preserving small quantities of life with access to light and CO₂ for photosynthesizers (not multicellular plants, which did not yet exist) to generate traces of oxygen that were enough to sustain some oxygen-dependent organisms. In Geology, a supercontinent is a Landmass comprising more than one Continental core or Craton. For the Genus of Metalmark butterflies, see Rodinia (butterfly. Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere This would happen even if the sea froze over completely if small parts of the ice were thin enough to admit light.
• In nunatak areas in the tropics, where daytime tropical sun or volcanic heat heated bare rock sheltered from cold wind and made small temporary melt pools, which would freeze over at sunset. A nunatak (from Inuit nunataq) is an exposed often rocky element of a ridge mountain or peak not covered with ice or snow within (or at the edge of an ice
• In pockets of liquid water within and under the ice caps, similar to Lake Vostok in Antarctica. Lake Vostok (восток "east" is the largest of more than 140 subglacial Lakes found under the surface of Earth's southern-most In theory, this system may resemble microbial communities living in the perennially frozen lakes of the Antarctic dry valleys. A microorganism (also spelled micro organism or micro-organism and also called a microbe) is an Organism that is Microscopic (usually Photosynthesis can occur under up to 100 m of ice, and at the temperatures predicted by models equatorial sublimation would prevent equatorial ice thickness from exceeding 10 m. ^[53]
• In small oases of molten water, as would be found near geothermal hotspots resembling Iceland today. In Geology, geothermal refers to heat sources within the planet HotSpot is the primary Java Virtual Machine for desktops and servers produced by Sun Microsystems. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( ^[54]

However, organisms and ecosystems, as far as it can be determined by the fossil record, do not appear to have undergone the significant change that would be expected by a mass extinction; even if life were to cling on in all the refugia listed above, the post-Snowball biota would have a noticeably different diversity and composition, something that is not observed. ^[55] In fact, the organisms which ought to be most susceptible to climatic variation emerge unscathed from the Snowball Earth. ^[28]

Evolution of life

Dickinsonia costata, an Ediacaran organism of unknown affinity, with a quilted appearance. Dickinsonia is an iconic fossil of the Ediacaran biota. It (roughly resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval

The Neoproterozoic was a time of remarkable diversification of multicellular organisms, including animals. The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1000 to 542 +/- 0 Organism size and complexity increased considerably after the end of the Snowball glaciations. This development of multicellular organisms may have been the result of increased evolutionary pressures resulting from multiple icehouse-hothouse cycles; in this sense, Snowball Earth episodes may have "pumped" evolution. Alternatively, fluctuating nutrient levels and rising oxygen may have played a part. Interestingly, another major glacial episode may have ended just a few million years before the Cambrian explosion. The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the seemingly rapid appearance of most major groups of complex Animals around, as evidenced by the

Development of the hypothesis

Sir Douglas Mawson, an Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer, spent much of his career studying the Neoproterozoic stratigraphy of South Australia where he identified thick and extensive glacial sediments and late in his career speculated on the possibility of global glaciation. The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1000 to 542 +/- 0 ^[56] Mawson's ideas of global glaciation, however, were based on the mistaken assumption that the geographic position of Australia, and that of other continents where low-latitude glacial deposits are found, has remained constant through time. With the advancement of the continental drift hypothesis, and eventually plate tectonic theory, came an easier explanation for the glaciogenic sediments — they were deposited at a point in time when the continents were at higher latitudes. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere In 1964 the idea of global-scale glaciation reemerged when W. Brian Harland published a paper in which he presented palaeomagnetic data showing that glacial tillites in Svalbard and Greenland were deposited at tropical latitudes. W Brian Harland (1917 &ndash 2003 was an eminent Geologist at Cambridge University, England. Paleomagnetism is the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field preserved in various Magnetic Minerals through time Svalbard is an Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean north of mainland Europe, about midway between Norway and the North Pole. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the ^[57] From this palaeomagnetic data, and the sedimentological evidence that the glacial sediments interrupt successions of rocks commonly associated with tropical to temperate latitudes, he argued for an ice age that was so extreme that it resulted in the deposition of marine glacial rocks in the tropics.

In the 1960s, Mikhail Budyko, a Russian climatologist, developed a simple energy-balance climate model to investigate the effect of ice cover on global climate. Mikhail Ivanovich Budyko (Михаил Иванович Будыко (born January 20 1920 Gomel, Belarus) is a Russian Climatologist and one Climate encompasses the temperatures humidity rainfall atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorogical factors in a given region over long periods of Using this model, Budyko found that if ice sheets advanced far enough out of the polar regions a feedback ensued where the increased reflectiveness (albedo) of the ice lead to further cooling and the formation of more ice until the entire Earth was covered in ice and stabilized in a new ice-covered equilibrium. The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun ^[58] . While Budyko's model showed that this ice-albedo stability could happen, he concluded that it had never happened, because his model offered no way to escape from such a scenario.

The term "Snowball Earth" was coined by Joseph Kirschvink, a professor of geobiology at the California Institute of Technology, in a short paper published in 1992 within a lengthy volume concerning the biology of the Proterozoic eon. The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, Coeducational research university located in Pasadena The Proterozoic (ˌproʊtərəˈzoʊɪk is a geological eon representing a period before the first abundant complex life on Earth. ^[21] The major contributions from this work were: (1) the recognition that the presence of banded iron formations is consistent with such a glacial episode and (2) the introduction of a mechanism with which to escape from an ice-covered Earth — the accumulation of CO₂ from volcanic outgassing leading to a ultra-greenhouse effect. Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIF s are a distinctive type of rock often found in primordial ( Precambrian) Sedimentary

Interest in the Snowball Earth increased dramatically after Paul F. Hoffman, the Sturgis Hooper professor of geology at Harvard University, and coauthors applied Kirschvink's ideas to a succession of Neoproterozoic sediments in Namibia, elaborated upon the hypothesis by incorporating such observations as the occurrence of cap carbonates, and published their results in the journal Science. Paul F Hoffman is a Canadian Geologist and the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University. ^[59]

Currently, aspects of the hypothesis remain controversial and it is being debated under the auspices of the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) Project 512: Neoproterozoic Ice Ages. ^[60]

Occurrence and timing of Snowball Earths

Neoproterozoic

There are three or four significant ice ages during the late Neoproterozoic. Of these, the Marinoan was the most significant, and the Sturtian glaciations were also truly widespread. ^[62] Even the leading Snowball proponent Hoffman agrees that the ~million year long Gaskiers glaciation did not lead to global glaciation,^[31] although it was probably as intense as the late Ordovician glaciation. The status of the Kaigas "glaciation" or "cooling event" is currently unclear; some workers do not recognise it as a glacial, others suspect that it may reflect poorly dated strata of Sturtian association, and others believe it may indeed be a third ice age. ^[61] It was certainly less significant that the Sturtian or Marinoan glaciations, and probably not global in extent.

Paleoproterozoic

The Snowball Earth hypothesis has been invoked to explain glacial deposits in the Huronian supergroup of Canada though the palaeomagnetic evidence that suggests ice sheets at low latitudes is contested. The Huronian Glaciation extended from 2400 mya to 2100 mya during the Siderian and Rhyacian periods of the Paleoproterozoic era ^[63][64] The glacial sediments of the Makganyene formation of South Africa are slightly younger than the Huronian glacial deposits (~2. 25 billion years old) and were deposited at tropical latitudes. ^[65] It has been proposed that rise of free oxygen that occurred during this part of the Paleoproterozoic removed methane in the atmosphere through oxidation. The Paleoproterozoic (ˌpeɪlɪoʊˌproʊtərəˈzoʊɪk also spelled Palaeoproterozoic) is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the As the Sun was notably weaker at the time, the Earth's climate may have relied on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to maintain surface temperatures above freezing. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. In the absence of this methane greenhouse, temperatures plunged and a snowball event could have occurred. ^[64]

Karoo Ice Age

Before the theory of continental drift, glacial deposits in Carboniferous strata in tropical continents areas such as India and South America led to speculation that the Karoo Ice Age glaciation reached into the tropics. The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period about 359 India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a The Karoo Ice Age from 300–400 Ma (million years ago was the second major period of Glaciation of the Phanerozoic Eon. However, a continental reconstruction shows that ice was in fact constrained to the polar parts of the supercontinent Gondwanaland. In Geology, a supercontinent is a Landmass comprising more than one Continental core or Craton. Gondwana (ɡɒnˈdwɑːnə originally Gondwanaland) was a southern Supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Ma ago

Further reading

• Gabrielle Walker (2003). Snowball Earth. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 0-7475-6433-7.  

See also

• Europa (moon) - an example of a large celestial body encased in ice, although much further from the sun than Earth is and colder than Snowball Earth is hypothesized to have been. TemplateInfobox Planet.--> Europa (jʊˈroʊpə; or as
• Greenhouse and Icehouse Earth
• Interglacial and Interstadial periods
• Milankovitch cycles

External links

• Snowball Earth web site Exhaustive on-line resource for Snowball Earth. The terms greenhouse and icehouse Earth refer to the prevailing global climate on a timescale of millions of years An interglacial is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature that separates Glacial periods within an Ice age. A stadial is a period of colder Temperatures during an Interglacial, of insufficient duration or intensity to be considered a Glaciation, or glacial period Milankovitch cycles are the collective effect of changes in the Earth 's movements upon its climate named after Serbian civil engineer and Mathematician Represents the views of pro-Snowball scientists Hoffman and Schrag - its neutrality is disputable!
• "The Snowball Earth" Overview by Paul F. Hoffman and Daniel P. Schrag, August 8, 1999
• Gabrielle Walker, 'Snowball Earth" in Muse 2004
• New Evidence Puts 'Snowball Earth' Theory Out In The Cold March 25, 2007 - sciencedaily. com

Notes and references

References

• Roberts, J. D. , 1971. Late Precambrian glaciation: an anti-greenhouse effect? Nature, 234, 216-217.
• Roberts, J. D. , 1976. Late Precambrian dolomites, Vendian glaciation, and the synchroneity of Vendian glaciation, J. Geology, 84, 47-63.
• A review paper, available without subscription: Sankaran, A. V. (2003). "Neoproterozoic "snowball earth" and the "cap" carbonate controversy". Current Science 84 (7): 871.  
• Torsvik, T. H. and Rehnström, E. F. , 2001. Cambrian palaeomagnetic data from Baltica: Implications for true polar wander and Cambrian palaeogeography, J. Geol. Soc. Lond. , 158, 321-329.