Snowball Earth

But they all extend back until 500, 550 million years ago, and that's what the samarium-neodymium isotopic composition tells us, that they all come from this material, which is about the age of what we thought Gondwana was when it formed.

The link between greater Gondwana and ending Snowball Earth.

Snowball Earth was 717 million years ago.

I know that 'cause I just did a story on it.

Went for over 100 million years.

It was a very, very long period of time that Snowball Earth existed.

And the, the thing about Snowball Earth, it defines that, that all the continents were covered in ice, and it didn't matter whether or not they were at the poles or at the equator.

Snowball Earth actually continued for at least 100 million years, up to maybe 580.

Snow has been falling on Earth for billions of years, ever since the planet's atmosphere became cool enough and moist enough to produce it.

During the Snowball Earth events, roughly 700 million years ago, glaciers may have extended all the way to the equator, covering nearly the entire planet in ice and snow.

These extreme glaciations lasted millions of years and are among the most dramatic climate events in Earth's history.

Seen from space, the planet would have been a white sphere with little or no open ocean.

Life survived these snowball Earth.

Events in refugia, including near volcanic hot springs and possibly in pools of liquid water beneath the ice, The end of each snowball earth event is thought to have been caused by the gradual build-up of volcanic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which eventually produced enough greenhouse warming to trigger a rapid global thaw.

With the oceans sealed under ice, there was nothing to absorb the gas, and it accumulated over millions of years until the balance tipped.

The fact that life not only survived but eventually diversified dramatically after these events suggests a remarkable resilience in the history of life on Earth.