Snowball Earth: – The idea was first proposed back in 1973 by a geologist named William White, but no one took him seriously…
Snowball Earth: – The idea was first proposed back in 1973 by a geologist named William White, but no one took him seriously…
Snowball earth is a fascinating theory of an event that may have occurred during the Cryogenian Ice Age (Towards the end of the Proterozoic Eon) and also during the Huronian Ice Age (Towards the beginning of the Proterozoic). But in order to prove it happened, they first have to figure out where the continents lay on earth at the relevant time periods, and then look for evidence of glaciation for those continents that lay near the equator. Not easy to do.
But this article has to throw in some complete nonsense: “triggered chemical reactions that drew down atmospheric carbon dioxide, cooling the planet and plunging it into a Snowball Earth state.” It’s ridiculous to think that decreased CO2 levels could have caused planet-wide glaciation. They have to resort to their PC global warming tripe.
If CO2 levels were low enough everything would die.
I noticed that comment too..same reaction.
Can’t come up with Evidence or abelievable theory.? Toss in the CO2 equation…
its becoming sickening….
The earth around Devil’s Tower was at least 900 feet higher at some point 60 million years ago. In that time the rock around it has eroded leaving the volcanic core. Erosion can be nasty over time even without glaciation.
Ha, and at some point in the article, CO2 is to blame.
… widespread erosion — caused by the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia — triggered chemical reactions that drew down atmospheric carbon dioxide, cooling the planet
Otherwise, an interesting article. So much I don’t know!
I had a crossword clue that went: Dangerous, inert gas. I couldn’t make CO2 fit (it was the evil Radon). Scientist seem to have the same problem, but always make CO2 fit.
Robert….CO2=$$$$$$$:-)))
An excerpt from one of the comments, I found interesting …
However, Dr Rosen omits 2 points in her piece. Perhaps she does not want to offend the advocates of C.A.C.A. (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alteration).
Point 1 is about the Earth’s atmosphere 600 Million years ago. Well, the partial pressure of CO2 at that time was about 3 bar (1 bar = 1 atm) (today’s partial pressure of CO2 is 0.0004 bar) which is 7500 times the current CO2 levels. Say it again: 7500 times the current CO2 levels; and yet the Earth became a snowball. The hair of the CACA advocates is now aflame. The total pressure of the Earth’s atmosphere 600 million years ago ranged from 12 bar to 20 bar. Current sealevel atmospheric pressure is 1 bar.
The biggest factor of the Green House effect of planets is not CO2, not H2O, it is the thickness of the atmosphere and it does not matter what the composition of the atmosphere is. Today, CO2 has a cooling effect in the stratosphere (low pressure), has a warming effect in the troposphere (high pressure). Because water undergoes phase transitions, water has negligeable cooling effect in the stratosphere but great warming effect in the troposphere. Because water undergoes phase transition, water has great thermostatic effect in the troposphere, thus negating much of the warming effect of CO2
Opinions? Knowledge on the subject? Although I admit that one of the reasons I dismiss CAGW is the inability of the Warmists/Worldwide Socialists to explain why much higher NATURAL epochs of Co2 didn’t extinguish life on the planet as predicted for humankind’s “unnatural” increase in atmospheric Co2.
CACA…. a good description of that concept.
Heh.
So, we are about to be subjected to a CACA tax?
Last 600 million years:
We are 400 ppm (Parts per million) in CO2 now. The peak was 7500 ppm or 19 times as high:
https://edberry.com/blog/climate-physics/agw-hypothesis/temperature-and-co2-history/
From the chart you can see we had ice ages with 10 times the amount of CO2 we presently have.
Anyway that is not 7500 times as much, it 7500 ppm CO2. Is that what you meant?
Basically the theory is that previous increases in CO2 either occured over a much longer timespan, or were in fact accompanied by mass extinctions.
Easily explained by the global flood as described in the most accurate history book of all times, the Bible.
petee, the “flood” as taught in sunday skool, is pure BS. Some say it happened 5000-5300 years ago. If true, genetic back tracing would indicate a single point at that time, and it doesn’t. Quit believing fairy tails. There are several accounts of a flood that predate the Jews, but no evidence it was global. Back then “the whole world” would reference regional, and not global. Grow the phuk up!
Nme66, I really appreciate having you around, because you speak up on everything, and when I know something about the subject you’re so off base that for those times I don’t know anything, I just read what you have to say, go 180 degrees and generally have the best response.
Your argument about genetics is a red herring. The main-line argument against the biblical flood was always uniformitarianism, and now this is saying that doesn’t work. So quit blustering about genetics, reconsider the fact that many of the earliest civilizations remembered a flood that was bigger than anything they could describe, and open your mind up to the possibilities.
My understanding of cosmoclimatology: Galactic Cosmic Rays produce cloud inducing particles in the atmosphere; the clouds shield the earth from solar energy; an active sun reduces the number of GCR which reduces cloudiness which increases the earth temperature. Early in earth’s life the sun was weaker, but the offsetting factor was higher GCR production, allowing life to proceed at appropriate earth temperatures.
“Large, slow swings, to and fro between ice-free and glaciated climates, are evident in the geological record of the past 550 million years. Efforts went into using the greenhouse-warming paradigm to try to account for these changes, but the pattern was wrong. There were four alternations between hothouse and icehouse conditions during the Phanerozoic, while reconstructions of atmospheric carbon dioxide show just two major peaks (Cambrian-Devonian and Mesozoic) and troughs (Carboniferous-Permian and Cenozoic). A more persuasive explanation comes from cosmoclimatology, which attributes the icehouse episodes to four encounters with spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, where explosive blue stars and cosmic rays are more concentrated. […….]
“The discovery of widespread glaciation in the tropics during the Proterozoic, in the Snowball Earth episodes around 2300 million and 700 million years ago, set a conundrum for traditional climate theory. […..]
“Increases in the rate of star formation in the Milky Way galaxy, associated with close encounters with the Magellanic Clouds, must have affected the cosmic-ray flux to the Earth, because of the increased number of supernovae — as seen, for example, in starburst galaxies. As for the climatic consequences, Nir Shaviv in Jerusalem pointed out that the Early Proterozoic Snowball Earth episode coincided with the highest star-formation rate in the Milky Way since the Earth was formed, in a mini-starburst 2400–2000 million years ago (Shaviv 2003a).”
https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/48/1/1.18/220765
At this time, all the continents were locked together in super-continent Pannotia which just happened to be centered right over the South Pole. Think Antarctica times 10 and only a few other smaller sub-continents were farther north and not linked to this main super-continent. There were actually two different times here a little different than the article.
So, the glaciers built up 5 kms high and spread out across all of the land surface they could reach. So much sunlight was reflected by these huge glaciers that temperatures fell by about 20C. Not kidding, glaciers and sea ice covered more than 50% of the planet.
Once the super-continent split up from continental drift (which they do of course) and moved off the South Pole, the glaciers melted and the Snowball was over. No CO2 was involved in this at all since it was extremely high at the time.
The actual snowball periods were 750 Mya – 700 Mya and then 650 Mya to 615 Mya. Complex life emerged at 600 Mya as the glaciers had melted away. I have extensively studied this and actually have real data backing it up.
It would not be surprising that huge glacial erosion occurred during both of these periods. 5 km high glaciers, 2 kms higher than the our recent ice age glaciers were.
Since the Chinese feathered dinosaurs and especially “CACA”, my skepticism towards once enjoyed scientific and academic articles has skyrocketed. But Bill, you lend credence to the snowball theory.
Bill & Don, good posts, thanks!