Snowball Earth

The riveting story of Earth's first ice age and the scientist who discovered it 'An engrossing book on the emergence of a stunning new account of events on our primordial planet ... fascinating' Sunday Telegraph 'This is a story worth telling ... Walker is an ideal person to tell it ... Racy and pacey, with a focus on the people involved ... A very entertaining read' Independent 'Did the Earth once undergo a super ice age, one that froze the entire planet? A global adventure story and a fascinating account of scientist Paul Hoffman's quest to prove his maverick 'Snowball Earth' theory, this is science writing at its most gripping. In SNOWBALL EARTH, Gabrielle Walker takes us on a thrilling natural history expedition in search of supporting evidence for the audacious theory which argues that the Earth experienced a climatic cataclysm 600 million years ago that froze the entire planet from the poles to the equator. Because the global snowball happened so long ago the ice has now long gone - but it left its traces in rocks around the world and in order to see the evidence, Walker visited such places as Australia, Namibia, South Africa and Death Valley, USA. Part adventure story and part travel book, it's a tale of the ultimate human endeavour to understand our origins.

Yukio was destroyed in battle and Tetsuo survived in an escape pod. After eight years in cold sleep, the escape pod finally lands back on Earth. But when Tetsuo emerges he finds a world in ruins, entirely frozen beneath a blanket of ice and snow—snowball Earth! What happened to humanity, how did the planet freeze over, and will Tetsuo be able to keep his last promise to Yukio? -- VIZ Media

Life on our planet depends upon having a climate that changes within narrow limits – not too hot for the oceans to boil away nor too cold for the planet to freeze over. Over the past billion years Earth’s average temperature has stayed close to 14-15°C, oscillating between warm greenhouse states and cold icehouse states. We live with variation, but a variation with limits. Paleoclimatology is the science of understanding and explaining those variations, those limits, and the forces that control them. Without that understanding we will not be able to foresee future change accurately as our population grows. Our impact on the planet is now equal to a geological force, such that many geologists now see us as living in a new geological era – the Anthropocene. Paleoclimatology describes Earth’s passage through the greenhouse and icehouse worlds of the past 800 million years, including the glaciations of Snowball Earth in a world that was then free of land plants. It describes the operation of the Earth’s thermostat, which keeps the planet fit for life, and its control by interactions between greenhouse gases, land plants, chemical weathering, continental motions, volcanic activity, orbital change and solar variability. It explains how we arrived at our current understanding of the climate system, by reviewing the contributions of scientists since the mid-1700s, showing how their ideas were modified as science progressed. And it includes reflections based on the author’s involvement in palaeoclimatic research. The book will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about future climate change. It will be an invaluable course reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students in geology, climatology, oceanography and the history of science. "A real tour-de-force! An outstanding summary not only of the science and what needs to be done, but also the challenges that are a consequence of psychological and cultural baggage that threatens not only the survival of our own species but the many others we are eliminating as well." Peter Barrett Emeritus Professor of Geology, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand "What a remarkable and wonderful synthesis... it will be a wonderful source of [paleoclimate] information and insights." Christopher R. Scotese Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

Doug Macdougall explores the causes & effects of ice ages that have gripped the Earth, from the earliest known glaciation some 3 billion years ago, to the present. He explains how the Pleistocene Ice Age shaped the landscape we know & influenced the evolution of our species.

Leading scientists bring the controversy over Gaia up to date by exploring a broad range of recent thinking on Gaia theory.

This book provides concise and cutting-edge reviews in astrobiology, a young and still emerging multidisciplinary field of science that addresses the fundamental questions of how life originated and diversified on Earth, whether life exists beyond Earth, and what is the future for life on Earth. Readers will find coverage of the latest understanding of a wide range of fascinating topics, including, for example, solar system formation, the origins of life, the history of Earth as revealed by geology, the evolution of intelligence on Earth, the implications of genome data, insights from extremophile research, and the possible existence of life on other planets within and beyond the solar system. Each chapter contains a brief summary of the current status of the topic under discussion, sufficient references to enable more detailed study, and descriptions of recent findings and forthcoming missions or anticipated research. Written by leading experts in astronomy, planetary science, geoscience, chemistry, biology, and physics, this insightful and thought-provoking book will appeal to all students and scientists who are interested in life and space.

Worldwide, Neoproterozoic successions are major hydrocarbon producers. In North Africa, large basins with significant surface outcrops and thick sedimen-tary fills are widespread. These basins are now emerging as potential sources of hydrocarbons and are attracting interest both from geological researchers and the oil and gas industry. This volume focuses on recent developments in the understanding and correla-tion of North African basin fills and explores novel approaches to prospecting for source and reservoir rocks. The papers cover aspects of petroleum prospectivity and age-equivalent global petroleum systems, Neoproterozoic tectonics and pa-laeogeography, sequence stratigraphy, glacial events and global climatic models, faunal and floral evolution and the deposition of early source rocks. The broader aim is to compare with, and learn from, well-studied Neoproterozoic successions globally, including major environmental change, the emergence of life, the global carbon cycle and implications for hydrocarbon exploration.

In recent years, interest in Neoproterozoic glaciations has grown as their pivotal role in Earth system evolution has become increasingly clear. One of the main goals of the IGCP Project number 512 was to produce a synthesis of newly available information on Neoproterozoic successions worldwide. This Memoir consists of a series of overview chapters followed by site-specific chapters. The overviews cover key topics including the history of research on Neoproterozoic glaciations, identification of glacial deposits, chemostratigraphic techniques and datasets, palaeomagnetism, biostratigraphy, geochronology and climate modelling. The site specific chapters include reviews of the history of research on these rocks and up-to-date syntheses of the structural framework, tectonic setting, palaeomagnetic & geochronological constraints, physical, biological, and chemical stratigraphy, and descriptions of the glaciogenic and associated strata, including economic deposits.