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A view of Garbh Eileach, the largest island in the Garvellach island chain where the gradational transition into snowball Earth is recorded.Now, scientists have discovered evidence of Earth's transition from a tropical underwater world, writhing with photosynthetic bacteria, to a frozen wasteland – all preserved within the layers of giant rocks in a chain of Scottish and Irish islands.
Grains of zircon deposited in sedimentary layers can be used to determine the age of a rock layer. As zircon forms, itfrom nestling within its structure. But it always contains a degree of uranium, which eventually decays into lead at a constant rate over time, even if it's nestled within lead-hating zircon.
This technique revealed the rocks in the Port Askaig and Garbh Eileach formations were laid between 720 and 662 million years ago, a bracket of time during which Earth underwent drastic climatic change, the Sturtian glaciation., so finding such a well-preserved geological archive of this time so close to the surface is pretty exciting .
"Most areas of the world are missing this remarkable transition because the ancient glaciers scraped and eroded away the rocks underneath, but in Scotland by some miracle the transition can be seen."
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Scottish and Irish rocks confirmed as rare record of 'snowball Earth'The study found that the Port Askaig Formation, composed of layers of rock up to 1.1 km thick, was likely laid down between 662 to 720 million years ago during the Sturtian glaciation -- the first of two global freezes thought to have triggered the development of complex, multicellular life.
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Earliest record of ‘snowball Earth’ revealed by 720-million-year-old rocksThe Port Askaig Formation reveals evidence of Earth's transition from a warm climate to a frozen snowball during the Sturtian glaciation.
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Rare Record of Snowball Earth Confirmed in Scottish and Irish RocksResearchers examine rocks from before and after a major glaciation event called Snowball Earth to describe an evolutionary transition.
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Geologists find solid evidence of ancient ‘snowball Earth’Laura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
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Scottish and Irish rocks confirmed as rare record of 'snowball Earth'A rock formation spanning Ireland and Scotland may be the world's most complete record of 'snowball Earth,' a crucial moment in planetary history when the globe was covered in ice, finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.
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