Some planetary geologists are of the belief that our planet was once completely frozen and the water in the oceans once froze and covered the entire planet in an era known as ‘Snowball Earth’.
According to these researchers during those periods the temperature of the planet went so low that the entire planet was covered in ice. Ice reflected most of the sunlight back to space and this phenomenon perpetuated the icy period.
But a new research goes against this theory. By analyzing glacial sedimentary rocks in Oman, researchers have discovered evidence of hot and cold cycles roughly 850-544 million years ago. According to the previous theory, this was the time when Earth was supposed to be covered in a blanket of ice.
This new research has shown that instead of being completely frozen with solid oceans, our planet had some warm spots where water was frozen and some geological processes could continue.
These researchers have also stated that a global freeze would have been devastating for life. Since without oceans there would not have been any evaporation and no weather system. Moreover icy surfaces would have reflected all the light from the sun and the planet could not have recovered from that ice age.
They have stated that the Northern and the Southern ice caps nearly reached each other, but still there were some areas on the planet that were warm and because of these warm areas the planet was able to prevent a disaster.
Via: universetoday
