Did Earth As soon as Freeze Utterly? New Proof Present in Colorado Rocks

New analysis on distinctive sandstone formations within the Colorado Rocky Mountains could affirm that Earth skilled a large, planet-wide freeze often called “Snowball Earth.” About 700 million years in the past, Earth’s floor was encased in ice, creating an excessive local weather the place formative years not solely survived however later advanced into advanced multicellular organisms.

For many years, the Snowball Earth speculation was supported primarily by coastal sedimentary rocks and local weather fashions. However, stable proof of ice sheets reaching the planet’s equatorial inside has remained elusive—till now. The latest examine, revealed within the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identifies uncommon sandstone deposits referred to as Tava, discovered throughout the granite formations of Colorado’s Pikes Peak. These sandstones seemingly shaped underneath the strain of ice sheets, supporting the Snowball Earth principle with new geological proof.

Tava sandstone formation linked to historic ice pressures

Pikes Peak, a sacred web site recognized to the Ute individuals as Tavá Kaa-vi, is the supply of those Tava sandstone formations. Researchers found that the sandstones shaped when sandy, water-saturated sediment was pressured into weakened rock by the immense weight of ice sheets. The examine’s lead authors, Christine Siddoway and Rebecca Flowers, used superior radiometric relationship to find out that Tava sandstones developed round 690 to 660 million years in the past, aligning with the Cryogenian Period.

Using iron minerals discovered with the sandstone, Siddoway’s group employed uranium-lead relationship to verify the Tava sandstone’s origins throughout the Snowball Earth timeframe. The group means that the ice sheets overlaying the equatorial Laurentia landmass, now a part of North America, created the pressures essential to kind these sandstone injectites.

Implications for understanding Earth’s climatic previous

This discovery strengthens the Snowball Earth speculation whereas additionally shedding mild on different geological phenomena, together with “unconformities” the place erosion has eliminated giant parts of Earth’s rock document. The findings at Pikes Peak point out that related unconformities could predate Snowball Earth, suggesting advanced erosion processes over thousands and thousands of years. Scientists hope these insights will result in a deeper understanding of Earth’s local weather historical past and the processes that formed our liveable planet.