What Is The Snowball Earth Hypothesis

The Snowball Earth Hypothesis

What is the Snowball Earth Hypothesis?

The Snowball Earth hypothesis is a geohistorical hypothesis that proposes during one or more of Earth's icehouse climates, the planet's surface became nearly or entirely covered in ice.

Evidence for the Snowball Earth Hypothesis

Ancient rocks suggest that ice entirely covered our planet on at least two occasions.

Scientists believe there were two snowball Earth events during the Cryogenian: the Sturtian glaciation and the Marinoan glaciation.

Sturtian glaciation

The Sturtian glaciation occurred between 720 and 635 million years ago.

Evidence for the Sturtian glaciation includes striated rocks, glacial till, and dropstones.

Marinoan glaciation

The Marinoan glaciation occurred between 650 and 580 million years ago.

Evidence for the Marinoan glaciation includes glacial till, dropstones, and a global cap carbonate.

Causes of the Snowball Earth Hypothesis

The causes of the Snowball Earth hypothesis are still debated.

One possible cause is a decrease in the Sun's luminosity.

Another possible cause is a change in the Earth's orbit.

Consequences of the Snowball Earth Hypothesis

The consequences of the Snowball Earth hypothesis are also debated.

One possible consequence is that the Snowball Earth events led to the evolution of complex life.

Another possible consequence is that the Snowball Earth events caused mass extinctions.

Conclusion

The Snowball Earth hypothesis is a controversial but intriguing hypothesis that has important implications for our understanding of Earth's history and the evolution of life.

Further research is needed to test the hypothesis and determine its causes and consequences.