Jul 9, 2021,09:18am EDT|22,183 views
Changes In Planet’s Orbit Allowed Life To Survive ‘Snowball Earth’
David BressanContributor
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that changes in Earth's orbit may have allowed complex life to emerge and thrive during the most hostile climate episode the planet has ever experienced.
The researchers - working with colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Curtin University, University of Hong Kong, and the University of Tübingen - studied a succession of 650 to 700-million-year-old rocks laid down when most of Earth's surface was covered in ice during a severe glaciation, dubbed Snowball Earth. What exactly caused this global glaciation remains unclear. Low levels of greenhouse gases in Earth's early atmosphere and changes in Earth's orbital parameters likely caused temperatures to drop worldwide. In addition, growing ice shields reflected more sunlight back into space, speeding up the cooling process.
The team's results help explain the enigmatic presence of sedimentary rocks of this age that show evidence for flowing water at Earth's surface when this water should have been locked up in ice sheets. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2021/07/09/changes-in-planets-orbit-allowed-life-to-survive-snowball-earth/?sh=60bda64e58e9
