We have an extremely incomplete picture of what these snowball periods looked like, and Antarctic terrain provides different models for what an icehouse continent might look like. But now, researchers ...

Our planet used to be a snowball. Roughly 635 and 720 million years ago, Earth was completely covered in thick ice. While somewhat barren at the time, this period eventually proved to be crucial for ...

Anyone living on Earth between 720 million and 635 million years ago probably would've needed a jacket. Geologists have long suspected that Earth's temperature dropped dramatically during this time, ...

At least twice in Earth’s history, beginning an estimated 700 million years ago, our planet was engulfed in snow and ice in quick succession. But now Two MIT scientists suggest that these events were ...

Scientists think that Earth turned into a "snowball" at least twice in quick succession around 700 million years ago due to significant and rapid drops in the amount of solar radiation reaching the ...

Life on our planet faced a stern test during the Cryogenian Period that lasted from 720 million to 635 million years ago when Earth twice was frozen over with runaway glaciation and looked from space ...

When ice possibly swathed the entire world, the oceans underneath may have nevertheless surprisingly churned, potentially helping to provide life with vital nutrients, new research suggests. For ...

Research by University Professor Richard Peltier of physics reveals that the Earth’s surface 700 million years ago may have been warmer than previously thought. Peltier developed a climate model that ...

While the thought of ice at the equator may be difficult to imagine, there is compelling evidence that much, if not all, of Earth’s land and oceans were once covered by ice — an event known as ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...

An asteroid that crashed into Earth over two billion years ago may have helped bring a period known as Snowball Earth to an end. By analyzing minerals at the site of the Yarrabubba impact crater in ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that ...