"Unraveling the Mystery of Earth's Ancient Snowball State"
Australian geologists have uncovered the cause of the "Snowball Earth" event over 700 million years ago, attributing it to historically low volcanic carbon dioxide emissions and weathering of volcanic rock in present-day Canada. This prolonged ice age, known as the Sturtian glaciation, occurred before the age of dinosaurs and complex terrestrial plant life, and its duration of 57 million years has been a longstanding mystery. The research highlights the intricate interplay between geological processes and climate dynamics, offering insights into Earth's ancient past and its potential future climate shifts.