Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Early earth

Snowballs limited by weathering

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Geoscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

A series of extreme cooling episodes, starting 750 million years ago, could have repeatedly turned the planet into an ice-covered snowball. Carbon cycle modelling suggests that the timing of the glaciations can be explained by chemical weathering rates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Figure 1: Fire and ice.

References

  1. Kirschvink, J. L. in The Proterozoic Biosphere: A Multidisciplinary Study (eds Schopf, J. W. & Klein, C.) 51–52 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mills, B., Watson, A. J., Goldblatt, C., Boyle, R. & Lenton, T. M. Nature Geosci. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1305 (2011).

  3. Walker, J. C. G., Hays, P. B. & Kasting, J. F. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 9776–9782 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Berner, R. A. & Caldeira, K. Geology 25, 955–956 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hoffman, P. F., Kaufman, A. J., Halverson, G. P. & Schrag, D. P. Science 281, 1342–1346 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Allen, P. A. & Etienne, J. L. Nature Geosci. 1, 817–825 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. West, A. J., Galy, A. & Bickle, M. J. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 235, 211–228 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Viers, J., Dupré, B. & Gaillardet, J. Sci. Total Environ. 407, 853–868 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Brady, P. V. & Gislason, S. R. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 61, 965–973 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Archer, D. J. Geophys. Res. 110, C09S05 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Joshua West.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

West, A. Snowballs limited by weathering. Nature Geosci 4, 824–826 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1330

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1330

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation