Orbital forcing of ice sheets during snowball Earth.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Mitchell RN; State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,, Beijing, China. ross.mitchell@mail.iggcas.ac.cn.; Earth Dynamics Research Group, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. ross.mitchell@mail.iggcas.ac.cn.; Gernon TM; School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.; Cox GM; Earth Dynamics Research Group, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.; Nordsvan AR; Earth Dynamics Research Group, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.; Kirscher U; Earth Dynamics Research Group, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.; Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.; Xuan C; School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.; Liu Y; Earth Dynamics Research Group, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.; Liu X; State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,, Beijing, China.; He X; School of Geoscience and Survey Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, China.
- Source
- Publisher: Nature Pub. Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101528555 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2041-1723 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20411723 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nat Commun Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE; MEDLINE
- Subject
- Language
- English
The snowball Earth hypothesis-that a runaway ice-albedo feedback can cause global glaciation-seeks to explain low-latitude glacial deposits, as well as geological anomalies including the re-emergence of banded iron formation and "cap" carbonates. One of the most significant challenges to snowball Earth has been sedimentological cyclicity that has been taken to imply more climate dynamics than expected when the ocean is completely covered in ice. However, recent climate models suggest that as atmospheric CO 2 accumulates, the snowball climate system becomes sensitive to orbital forcing. Here we show the presence of nearly all Milankovitch (orbital) cycles preserved in stratified banded iron formation deposited during the Sturtian snowball Earth. These results provide evidence for orbitally forced cyclicity of global ice sheets that resulted in periodic oxidation of ferrous iron. Orbital glacial advance and retreat cycles provide a simple mechanism to reconcile both the sedimentary dynamics and the enigmatic survival of multicellular life during snowball Earth.