BBC: 'Snowball Earth' could have been a slushball

BBC News highlighted research by a University of Cincinnati geologist who examined an ice age 635 million years ago that many scientists believed froze the planet solid from pole to pole.

But a new study published in the journal Nature Communications by an international team of scientists said evidence suggests some shallow seas in the mid-latitudes remained ice free, possibly allowing life to persist during this prolonged period of global glaciation.

UC College of Arts and Sciences geosciences Professor Thomas Algeo worked with researchers from the China University of Geosciences to use isotopic analysis to understand what life on Earth was like hundreds of millions of years before dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

“We called this ice age ‘Snowball Earth,'” Algeo said. “We used to believe that Earth was completely frozen during this long ice age. But it could be ‘Slushball Earth.’”

Read the BBC News story.

Featured illustration at top: University of Cincinnati researchers found evidence that a prolonged ice age 635 million years did not freeze the planet solid from pole to pole as previously believed. Graphic/Huyue Song

• Phys.org: 'Snowball Earth' might have been a slushball

• Fox News: Study reveals how life survived on 'Snowball Earth'

• Earth.com: 'Snowball Earth' might not have been frozen solid

• Extreme Tech: 'Snowball Earth' may have been less icy than thought

• India Today: When Earth froze to death but somehow life survived