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Volcanic shutdown may have led to 'snowball Earth'
New Scientist ^ | 09 May 2009 | David Shiga

Posted on 05/10/2009 6:46:26 PM PDT by neverdem

A 250-million-year shutdown of volcanic activity which is thought to have occurred early in Earth's history may be what turned the planet into a glacier-covered snowball. It could also have helped give rise to our oxygen-rich atmosphere.

Previous studies have noted that very little volcanic material has been dated to between 2.45 and 2.2 billion years ago, but it was widely assumed the gap would vanish as more samples were dated. Now an analysis of thousands of zircon minerals collected from all seven continents indicates that the gap may be real after all. Zircons provide a record of past volcanic activity, as the date they were formed can be calculated from the radioactive isotopes they contain.

The failure of so many samples from all over the world to fill the gap suggests there was a major slowdown in the planet's volcanic activity during this period, says Kent Condie of New Mexico Tech in Socorro, who led the study (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.03.033). "Volcanism didn't shut off, but it became much, much less widespread during this time."

The lull could be tied to a pause in the motion of tectonic plates, which drives much of Earth's volcanic activity, Condie says. Computer simulations suggest this motion, which now takes place continuously, would have been intermittent early in Earth's history, when the planet's interior was hotter and less viscous, so less able to drag the plates.

The lull may in turn be a major factor behind a suspected "snowball Earth" event between 2.4 and 2.3 billion years ago, when much of the planet is thought to have been covered with ice (New Scientist, 2 December 2006, p 14). With no new carbon dioxide being spewed from volcanoes, its...

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Testing
KEYWORDS: climatechange; glaciation; globalcooling; globalwanking; globalwarming; joekirschvink; junkscience; oldearthspeculation; religionofatheism; sciencefiction; showmethefossils; snowballearth; truepolarwander
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Either way, active volcanoes or not, it's global cooling! The geoengineering to mimic volcanic activity is supposed to cause global cooling. Either way we're doomed!
1 posted on 05/10/2009 6:46:26 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: SirKit

Snowball Earth ping!


2 posted on 05/10/2009 6:48:26 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: SuziQ

We’re all gonna die!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL


3 posted on 05/10/2009 6:52:13 PM PDT by Slimey
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To: SuziQ

So... A single big volcano can cause a year without summer.

A Pinatubo sized volcano can lower global temperatures for years.

But an absence of volcanos freezes the planet?


4 posted on 05/10/2009 6:54:17 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 111 of our national holiday from reality.)
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To: null and void

And man has ruined it all in just a hundred years or so.


5 posted on 05/10/2009 7:01:53 PM PDT by umgud (Look to gov't to solve your everday problems and they'll control your everday life.)
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To: umgud

Not only has man ruined it here, but also have caused the polar caps on Mars to start melting, and probably is the reason there have been no sunspots for such a long period...


6 posted on 05/10/2009 7:15:49 PM PDT by C210N (A patriot for a Conservative Renaissance!)
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To: neverdem

The Chicken Little Global Weather Disaster Thing again? Man has been bitching about the weather since the Garden of Eden expulsion. Get over it!! Adam screwed us.


7 posted on 05/10/2009 7:22:37 PM PDT by BipolarBob (Liberals wouldn't just free Barrabas, they would elect him to represent them.)
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To: neverdem

Anything to tie CO2 to warming.


8 posted on 05/10/2009 7:23:33 PM PDT by MarkeyD (OBAMA. Chains we can believe in!)
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To: null and void
There are different sorts of volcanoes and they emit different gases. The kind that cools stuff down emits a lot of sulphuric acid and particulates. The kind that warms stuff up emits a lot of CO and CO2.

There are several different snowball Earth scenarios proposed for different periods of time.

We are currently in the grip of a world-wide ice age that's been underway for over 2 million years. However, the ice doesn't form all the way to the equator except in the mountains.

Algore has an army of acolytes who argue that water ice cannot normally exist on Earth.

9 posted on 05/10/2009 7:26:32 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah
Another beautiful snarky comment ruined, ruined!, by ugly facts...
10 posted on 05/10/2009 7:29:15 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 111 of our national holiday from reality.)
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To: null and void
Just think for a moment how many times North America has been totally devastated by super volcanoes, comets and meteors.

It's a regular ol' disaster magnet.

Just about now some of the "residual" volcanism located along various "failed rifts" in the middle of the continent ought to be perking up in response to the loss of the mile deep ice cap that used to be there.

Check out "chestnut ridge" in South Eastern Indiana. There's an ancient pluton underneath that's still quite hot. The area just to the East is made up of feldspar ~ spewed up as the pluton spread lava in a crack in the continent overhead.

The ice has been coming and going, and moving that rock up and down 20 times in 2 million years. Who knows what might happen next. There's a similar formation at the bottom of Lake Superior.

11 posted on 05/10/2009 7:39:27 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

At least we have something to look forward to...


12 posted on 05/10/2009 7:49:54 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 111 of our national holiday from reality.)
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To: null and void

These GOV paid “studies” always seem to come up with stuff that no one can prove or dis-prove. They are quite successful at keeping the GOV grants rolling in, by helping algore and his buddies sell all those fake carbon credits.


13 posted on 05/10/2009 8:20:49 PM PDT by dusttoyou (Remember the Alamo - CHENEY-PALIN 2012)
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To: Slimey
AA8
14 posted on 05/10/2009 8:39:51 PM PDT by odin2008 (EVIL TRIUMPHS WHEN GOOD MEN DO NOTHING)
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To: dusttoyou

I like the way the titles always have words like “largest”, “oldest”, “fastest”, etc.

Then you read the fine print and see all kinds of “May be’s” and “could have’s” and “might’s”.

Not even science anymore. It’s rumor mongering.


15 posted on 05/10/2009 8:46:08 PM PDT by djf (Too many churches, and not enough truth...)
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To: djf

Makes exciting Discovery Channel shows, if you like 40 ways to doom and gloom.


16 posted on 05/10/2009 9:18:50 PM PDT by dusttoyou (Remember the Alamo - CHENEY-PALIN 2012)
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To: wardaddy; Joe Brower; Cannoneer No. 4; Criminal Number 18F; Dan from Michigan; Eaker; Jeff Head; ...
U.S. Drops Research Into Fuel Cells for Cars

Hate Crime Legislation - Back Door to Censorship

George Will: Upside-Down Economy Great quote in comment# 17!

Fred Barnes: Be the Party of No ( "It's the route to Republican landslides." )

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

17 posted on 05/10/2009 9:58:43 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

Thanks for the ping!


18 posted on 05/10/2009 10:07:45 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: neverdem; Defendingliberty; WL-law; Genesis defender; proud_yank; FrPR; enough_idiocy; Desdemona; ..
Thanx !

 


Beam me to Planet Gore !

19 posted on 05/11/2009 3:17:19 AM PDT by steelyourfaith ("The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Lady Thatcher)
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To: null and void

>> So... A single big volcano can cause a year without summer.

A Pinatubo sized volcano can lower global temperatures for years.

But an absence of volcanoes freezes the planet? <<

We need volcanoes to occasionally spew CO2 into the atmosphere otherwise we start running out of CO2 and without any CO2 plants will die and the earth will reflect more sunlight back into space due to less albedo effect from veggy-tation, So warm up your SUV and give some help to the plants and the carbon cycle!


20 posted on 05/11/2009 8:20:53 AM PDT by GraceG
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