Earth Was a Ball of Ice 700 Million Years Ago, Almost Completely Frozen [Study]

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/NASA on The Commons)
Earth Was a Ball of Ice 700 Million Years Ago, Almost Completely Frozen [Study]

Earth isn't as lively and green as it is today, millions of years ago. The planet that hosts humans was reportedly cold and nearly froze due to an extreme ice age.

Earth Used To Be a Frozen Snowball

A group of researchers from Australia provided evidence of Earth being a "Planet Ice" in a new study. According to them, concrete evidence is present today to support this claim.

"Imagine the Earth almost completely frozen over," Dr. Adriana Dutkiewicz, Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow and professor at the University of Sydney, said in a statement."That's just what happened about 700 million years ago; the planet was blanketed in ice from the poles to the equator, and temperatures plunged."

The study's lead researcher, Dutkiewicz, reported that the group's field trip to South Australia's Flinders Range allowed them to uncover important discoveries. The researchers examined data from EarthByte computer models and observed that glacial debris from the Sturtian Glaciation era was still evident.

In order to provide free access to geological and geophysical data for scientists, Australian universities, worldwide military organizations, and business partners collaborated to create these models.

Utilizing a plate tectonic model that approximates the locations of Earth's continents and ocean basins approximately 700 million years ago (between 717 and 660 million years ago) in conjunction with an additional model that examines carbon dioxide emissions, the researchers determined the onset of the Sturtian glacial, a violent ice age.

Although they were sure that our planet nearly froze, they weren't certain what caused the extreme ice age. One possible reason is the significant loss of carbon dioxide emissions from volcanoes in present-day Canada, which resulted in the prolonged "Planet Ice."

"At this time, there were no multicellular animals or land plants on Earth. The greenhouse gas concentration of the atmosphere was almost entirely dictated by CO2 outgassing from volcanoes and by silicate rock weathering processes, which consume CO2," Dutkiewicz added.

ALSO READ: Spanish Butterflies Better at Regulating Body Temperature Than UK Counterparts but Rising Global Temperature Puts Them at Risk of Extinction

Will Earth Freeze Again?

Going forward, there's no reason such a freeze shouldn't occur again; ironically, it might even be triggered if current climate changes cause the Greenland ice sheet to abruptly melt, according to scientists.

The Northern Hemisphere experienced a cold that began about 12,800 years ago and lasted about 1,300 years. Geological evidence indicates that the "Big Freeze," also known by scientists as the Younger Dryas, was caused by an enormous surge of fresh water that filled the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, surpassing the combined volume of North America's Great Lakes.

This "conveyor belt" abruptly stopped when the glacial Lake Agassiz in North America overflowed its banks, diluting the flow of warmer water in the North Atlantic. There is evidence that temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere fell dramatically without this warming influence.

Previous data from Greenland ice samples showed that this sudden climate change occurred over ten years. Surprisingly, according to scholars, it might have happened in a few months or, at most, a year or two.

"That the climate system can turn on and off that quickly is extremely important," said Earth system scientist Henry Mullins at Syracuse University, who did not participate in the research. "Once the tipping point is reached, there would be essentially no opportunity for humans to react."

Another report suggests that if the Gulf Stream shuts down, it could be a real-life "The Day After Tomorrow" because it will leave Europe frozen; England would have a much colder and harsher climate without the Gulf Stream.