• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

717 Million Years Ago, “Snowball Earth” Was Triggered By Massive Lava Outburst

July 27, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

The “Snowball Earth” event has always been mysterious, but now scientists think that a ginormous volcanic eruption could have been the cause of it. 

Around 717 million years ago, there was an enormous climate catastrophe. The Earth’s temperatures plunged dramatically and glaciers enveloped the globe for 57 million years; from outer space it would have looked similar to a snowball, hence the name. For a long time, it was unclear as to what was the direct cause of the freeze, but now scientists have gained more understanding of this incident.  

Advertisement

In a new study, and another published in Science Advances last year, scientists detail how they now believe that massive volcanic eruptions that occurred 1-2 million years before the Snowball Earth event could have been the cause.

It is thought that this fiery occasion could have led to the shiveringly cold experience, as fresh volcanic rocks could have gone through a chemical reaction called weathering that draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, which in turn can cause the overall planetary temperature to plummet. This weathering phenomenon could have been the key reason behind the shift in Earth’s climate. 

Previously, scientists have come up with all sorts of reasoning for Snowball Earth to occur, such as shifts in Earth’s orbit, meteorite strikes, and biological activity, to name a few. However, now research is focusing on one of the largest volcanic outbursts that can be found, called the Franklin large igneous province (LIP), in northern Canada. These eruptions were massive. They spurted and spewed lava over vast areas that could have been larger than China. 

It is known that volcanism can trigger the cooling of Earth. A large eruption can cause the Sun to go bye-bye behind aerosols caused by sulfur-rich gases. In this incidence, lava from Franklin could have even supercharged the plumes as it furiously burst through rocks of sulfur-rich minerals. The other way is weathering, which has previously been mentioned. 

Advertisement

The difference between both of these reasons is the timeframe. The aerosols are probably going to linger for a few months or even a few years after the event. However, weathering is a different, slow beast – it can take 1-2 million years to creep in before the cooling effects peak. 

For many years it was very difficult to determine the timing for Franklin LIP, which made it very difficult for researchers to determine whether it was aerosols or weathering that was the cause of the cooling of Earth. However, this has all changed, as recovery of rare minerals has helped improve the dating of this event. 

The teams analyzed trace amount ratios of uranium and lead in zircon minerals, and they found that the Franklin LIP formed over 2 million years. Previous analysis determined that a primary pulse of volcanism happened 1-2 million years before Snowball Earth – which is the right timeframe for weathering to cause the cooling of Earth. 

“They’re just stunning the extent to which [the dates] all line up,” Galen Halverson, co-author of the new study, told Science.

Advertisement

Despite everything lining up, there is still some uncertainty about what exactly happened in this process, specifically in global glaciation. For snowballing to begin, there needs to be a flow of thick ice at sea level, which may not have happened until the oceans froze over around several hundred thousand years later. 

Nevertheless, it is still good news in the science community, as the case for weathering being the cause of Snowball Earth has increased. 

The new study is published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. IMF says crucial Chad gets debt treatment deal with private creditors
  2. Asian shares at 1-month low, default fears stalk China Evergrande
  3. Thought Turtles And Caecilians Were Silent? New Audio Recordings Say Think Again
  4. 11 Things You Can Do To Adjust To Losing That Hour Of Sleep When Daylight Saving Time Starts

Source Link: 717 Million Years Ago, "Snowball Earth" Was Triggered By Massive Lava Outburst

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The Moon Is Moving Away From Earth At A Rate Of About 3.8 Centimeters Per Year. Will It Ever Drift Apart?
  • As Solar Storm Hits Earth NASA Finds “The Sun Is Slowly Waking Up”
  • Plate Tectonics And CO2 On Planets Suggest Alien Civilizations “Are Probably Pretty Rare”
  • How To Watch The “Awkward” Partial Solar Eclipse This Weekend
  • World’s Oldest Pots: 20,000-Year-Old Vessels May Have Been Used For Cooking Clams Or Brewing Beer
  • “The Body Is Slowly And Continuously Heated”: 14,000-Year-Old Smoked Mummies Are World’s Oldest
  • Pizza Slices, Polaroid Pictures, And Over 300 Hats: What’s Left Behind In Yellowstone’s Hydrothermal Areas?
  • The Mathematical Paradox That Lets You Create Something From Nothing
  • Ancient Asteroid Ripped Apart In Collision Had Flowing Water
  • Flying Foxes Include The World’s Biggest Bat And The Largest Mammal Capable Of True Flight
  • NASA Responds To Claims That Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Is An Advanced Alien Spacecraft
  • Millions Of Tons Of Gold Are In Earth’s Oceans, Potentially Worth Over $2 Quadrillion
  • The Race Back To The Moon: US Vs China, Will What Happens Next Change The Future?
  • NOAA Issues G3 Geomagnetic Storm Warning As 500,000 Kilometer Hole Sends Solar Wind At Earth
  • Lasting 776 Days, This Is The Longest Case Of COVID-19 Ever Recorded
  • Living Cement: The Microbes In Your Walls Could Power The Future
  • What Can Your Earwax Reveal About Your Health?
  • Ever Seen A Giraffe Use An Inhaler? Now You Can, And It’s Incredibly Wholesome
  • Martian Mudstone Has Features That Might Be Biosignatures, New Brain Implant Can Decode Your Internal Monologue, And Much More This Week
  • Crocodiles Weren’t All Blood-Thirsty Killers, Some Evolved To Be Plant-Eating Vegetarians
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version