Did the Earth once undergo a super ice age, one that froze the entire planet from the poles to the equator? In Snowball Earth, gifted writer Gabrielle Walker has crafted an intriguing global adventure story, following maverick scientist Paul Hoffman’s quest to prove a theory so audacious and profound that it is shaking the world of earth sciences to its core. In lyrical prose that brings each remote and alluring locale vividly to life, Walker takes us on a thrilling natural history expedition to witness firsthand the supporting evidence Hoffman has pieced together. That evidence, he argues, shows that 700 million years ago the Earth did indeed freeze over completely, becoming a giant “snowball,” in the worst climatic catastrophe in history. Even more startling is his assertion that, instead of ending life on Earth, this global deep freeze was the trigger for the Cambrian Explosion, the hitherto unexplained moment in geological time when a glorious profusion of complex life forms first emerged from the primordial ooze. In a story full of intellectual intrigue, we follow the irascible but brilliant Hoffman and a supporting cast of intrepid geologists as they scour the planet, uncovering clue after surprising clue. We travel to a primeval lagoon at Shark Bay in western Australia, where dolphins cavort with swimmers every morning at seven and “living rocks” sprout out of the water like broccoli heads; to the desolate and forbidding ice fields of a tiny Arctic archipelago seven hundred miles north of Norway; to the surprising fossil beds that decorate Newfoundland’s foggy and windswept coastline; and on to the superheated salt pans of California’s Death Valley. Through the contours of these rich and varied landscapes Walker teaches us to read the traces of geological time with expert eyes, and we marvel at the stunning feats of resilience and renewal our remarkable planet is capable of. Snowball Earth is science writing at its most gripping and enlightening.

Snowball Earth. During the Marinoan Epoch 650 million years ago, the Earth froze over like Europa, miles thick in ice, bringing about one of six mass extinction events in this planet's history. The Moon at the time was close enough to the Earth to bring about ice tides and form liquid water again, and over millions of years, the Earth recovered, and life began again from single celled organisms. Our Ecosystem is facing imminent catastrophic failure. It has been established by the scientific community that we are past the point of no return. We cannot save the planet, but we may be able to salvage as much as we can. It is urban myth, actually an industrial lie, that industrial CO2 is causing the greenhouse effect that is causing Global Warming. Animal Agriculture is responsible for 99% of the cause of Global Warming from Nitrous Oxide and Methane, and the 100,000 square miles of Ocean Dead Zones (Lifeless Oceans), and the stripping of 1 acre per second of Rainforests. Again, we are past the point of no return. The climate models predict a shift in ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream because of the change in salinity from deglaciation, resulting in a massive shift in temperatures on a global scale to another Snowball Earth scenario within 300 years. At this time, 650 million years later, the Moon is too distant to bring about ice tides to form liquid water again, and the Earth will remain frozen over indefinitely. The time frame for human extinction is less than 200 years, according to the United Nations data. All of the relevant data with the current scientific references in support of the United Nations effort is described and detailed in this brief text.

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.

An exploration of how the Cryogenian Period, when our planet was covered in ice for millions of years, created today's remarkable biodiversity More than half a billion years ago, our world was completely covered by glaciers, a "Snowball Earth" that persisted for millions of years. Incredibly, this unimaginable cold led to the remarkable diversification of life on earth known as the Cambrian explosion. With a geologist's eye and a knack for storytelling, Graham Shields explores when and how such inhospitable conditions enabled animals to evolve, radiate, and diversify into our earliest ancestors. This journey navigates the wild swings between hot and cold climates, oxygenation and asphyxiation, biological radiations and extinctions, asking how such instability relates to grander forces that brought our planet to its modern state. Shields guides readers through evidence found in the Australian outback, Mongolia, Scotland, and other locales, revealing how geologists can trace glaciation, the atmosphere, oceans, mountain building, and more through the earth's rocks, providing a comprehensive theory of how life evolved and diversified.

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.