Scientists have long known that there was a period in the history of our planet when almost everything turned into a snowball. Now, they realized that right after that period ended, the water from the melting of the glaciers turned it into mud.
Ice ages in Earth’s history
When people talk about ice ages, the first thing they think of is the last one, which ended about 10,000 years ago, keeping in mind that we are now living in a much warmer era. However, there have been times in Earth’s history when it was all covered in ice and resembled a snowball.
This period is known as the “Snowball Earth” period. It lasted from 650 to 635 million years ago. As after all frosts and snowfalls, a huge amount of melt water was formed after it. Recently, research conducted by scientists from the Virginia Institute of Technology proved that the entire Earth could have turned to mud then.
What the biggest ice age was like
Scientists don’t know exactly the root cause of the ice age 650 million years ago. Biological, geological and astronomical factors are also mentioned. The fact is that the ice caps at the poles of the planet began to grow. And the more they grew, the more light they reflected into space.
The planet was cooling, and they grew larger and larger until they approached the equator. But it could not continue like this forever. After all, the absorption of carbon dioxide mainly due to erosion was decreasing more and more. It caused a greenhouse effect, and at some point it overpowered the reflection of light by the ice, and it began to melt.
Muddy Earth
According to new research, the melting of the ice occurred very abruptly. In just 10 million years, the average temperature on the planet increased from -45°C to 48°C. And all this time, the ice on the planet was melting. This formed a large amount of water, which flowed into the sea not in separate channels but in continuous flows.
And since there was no vegetation at that time, mud was formed, which covered all the areas where erosion turned the rocks into sand and clay. Scientists verified this with carbonate rocks from that time. They clearly confirmed that they were formed on land that had plenty of fresh water at that time.
Provided by phys.org
