jan 1, 650000 BC - Snowball Earth

Description:

Snowball Earth was a period of time where the planet was almost entirely covered in ice. This event occurred due to multiple factors, such as a noticeable reduction in greenhouse gases, continents shifting, and changes in solar radiation. Once the ice sheets that were formed expanded, they reflected much more sunlight, adding to the cooling effect of this event (7). The cooling produced by this likely reduced the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as less weathering and volcanic activity occurred. Life in the ocean also became increasinglt hard to survive, only being able to live in pockets of water beneath the ice sheets, reducing the overall biodiversity of the planet. However, one this event was over, the mass amount of ice thawing led to significant levels of erosion. This also led to mass amounts of flooding, changing the chemical makeup of the ocean due to the amount of sediment in the ice.

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