glaciation Archives

This illustration contrasts Earth's oceans during ancient glaciations (left) with deglacial conditions (right). Syracuse University researchers found that oceans lost oxygen not just during warm periods, but repeatedly during Earth's deepest ice ages, a pattern preserved in manganese deposits within ancient seafloor rock. (Courtesy: Xubin Wang, generated with AI)-- [Syracuse University]

Metal Deposits Linked To Oceanic Oxygen Loss During Ancient Ice Ages

by Keith CowingAugust 20, 2026August 20, 2026

[Syracuse University] An international team of researchers analyzed manganese and other chemical signatures preserved in more than 27,000 ancient seafloor samples collected from six continents. Across six major glaciations spanning […]

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology

Fire And Ice: Were Yellowstone’s Past Volcanic Eruptions And Glaciations Related?

by Keith CowingJuly 22, 2026July 22, 2026

[USGS/Yellowstone Volcano Observatory] Yellowstone is a land of fire and ice. Not only does it have a history of different styles of volcanic eruptions, but it has also been covered […]

Snowball Earth -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Extinction events, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

A New Explanation For Snowball Earth

by Keith CowingMay 11, 2026May 11, 2026

A new study by Earth scientists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) offers an explanation for one of Earth’s great climate puzzles: how […]

(a) Annual mean sea ice concentration and sea ice thickness at the end of the simulations. Red lines in TSI100 indicate the presentday winter sea ice edge (Hirahara et al., 2014), and the contour in TSI094 indicates the simulated annual mean sea ice thickness (unit: m). The red shades on the land grid indicate that the monthly minimum snow depth exceeds 1 cm. (b) Annual mean surface shortwave albedo. -- physics.geo-ph

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Climate And Ocean Circulation Changes Toward A Modern Snowball Earth

by Keith CowingApril 2, 2026April 2, 2026

It has been hypothesized that the Earth may have experienced snowball events in the past, during which its surface became completely covered with ice. Previous studies used general circulation models […]

Intermedia stage in Snowball Earth -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Interaction Between Vegetation And Snowball Phases In The Late Proterozoic Earth

by Keith CowingMarch 31, 2026March 31, 2026

Between 2.4 and 0.6 Gy ago, our planet underwent several episodes of global glaciations, including the Snowball Earth case that ended 635 My ago.

Qualitative projections of the best-fit three-dimensional spherical-harmonic model to the jointly decomposed first spatial mode, u(1), derived from three viewing geometries of Europa’s leading hemisphere. (e) Water-ice 3.1 µm Fresnel peak (ℓmax = 6). (g) CO2 absorption doublet near 4.25 µm (ℓmax = 7). Shaded outlines mark Tara, Powys, and the leading-hemisphere part of Annwn Regiones. The left panels show jointly decomposed spectral modes (v(0) and v(1) in gray and black, respectively) and spectra from the spaxels where the joint spatial mode peaks (blue) and reaches its minimum (red). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report

Spectral Decomposition Reveals Surface Processes on Europa

by Keith CowingMarch 16, 2026March 16, 2026

Competing processes shape Europa’s surface: geological activity replenishes material through resurfacing, while bombardment by charged particles alters surface chemical composition. Each process leaves distinct spectral signatures.

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Subglacial Weathering May Have Slowed Earth’s Escape From Snowball Earth

by Keith CowingMarch 11, 2026March 11, 2026

A new study led by researchers at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo challenges a long-standing assumption about Earth’s most extreme ice ages. Using numerical geochemical […]

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Extinction events, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Understanding Snowball Earth Extreme Climates

by Keith CowingFebruary 19, 2026February 19, 2026

In the whole history of Earth’s climate, few events are as extreme as those that geologists call “Snowball Earth.”

Artist’s impression of Earth around 700 million years ago during Snowball Earth Credit This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Attribution must be given to Pablo Carlos Budassi.

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ancient Rocks Reveal Annual Climate Cycles During Snowball Earth

by Keith CowingFebruary 6, 2026February 6, 2026

Scientists at the University of Southampton have uncovered evidence from ancient rocks that the Earth’s climate continued to fluctuate during its most extreme ice age – known as Snowball Earth.

(A) Predicted pO2 (red line) and (B) pCO2 (purple line) values are compared for a range of possible assumed pN2. Vertical dashed lines and colored bands reflect pN2 estimates for 1.44 Ga. from existing models (22–26). For O2, the green and yellow bands reflect the thresholds for early animal respiration and full O3 shielding, respectively (31, 32). The pO2 safely exceeds these thresholds (0.01 PAL) if pN2 exceeded 0.2 bar. For CO2, horizontal dashed lines reflect estimated CO2 contents necessary to achieve the specified temperature (33–35). The diagonal line extrapolates from Archean atmospheric models that account for the effect of total atmospheric pressure on the required CO2 to keep the planet warm (35). Based on these points, our data suggests modern-like climates were possible if pN2 exceeded 0.5 bar. -- PNAS

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Status Report

Direct Constraints From 1.4 Ga Fluid Inclusions Reveal A Fair Climate And Oxygenated Atmosphere

by Keith CowingJanuary 8, 2026January 8, 2026

The Mesoproterozoic eon, often regarded as mundane and static, lays the foundation for dramatic transformations in Earth’s physical and biological evolution during the subsequent Neoproterozoic.