Life on our planet faced a stern test during the Cryogenian Period that lasted from 720 million to 635 million years ago when Earth twice was frozen over with runaway glaciation and looked from space like a shimmering white snowball.
Life somehow managed to survive during this time called "Snowball Earth," and a new study offers a deeper understanding as to why.
"The key finding of this study is that open-water - ice-free - conditions existed in mid-latitude oceanic regions during the waning stage of the Marinoan Ice Age," said China University of Geosciences geobiologist Huyue Song, lead author of the research published in the journal"Our study shows that, at least near the end of the Marinoan 'Snowball Earth' event, habitable areas extended to mid-latitude oceans, much larger than previously thought.
Scientists are trying to better understand the onset of "Snowball Earth." They believe a greatly reduced amount of the sun's warmth reached the planet's surface as solar radiation bounced off the white ice sheets. "The fossils were preserved as compressed sheets of organic carbon," China University of Geosciences paleontologist and study co-author Qin Ye said.
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