Snowball Earth Hypothesis

[Мастер]

Anyone familiar with this one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earth

I am continually surprised by how uncertain we are about major happenings on this world we inhabit.

[Heid the Ba]

I hadn't see this one, and it sounds like bollocks to me.

[Lianachan]

Show Spoiler

[Мастер]

So this Russian fellow proposed the idea, and argued that it could happen, but has not happened, because once it does, it's permanent. But subsequent modelling innovations have come up with mechanisms by which this frozen state could be escaped.

The evidence for it comes from signs of glacial activity in tropical areas. But the big problem is apparently that it's very hard to show that these pieces of evidence all come from the same time, so it could just be occasional glaciation here and there, rather than simultaneous global glaciation.

[Lance]

Well, there are tropical fossils in Antarctica because it used to be located at much lower latitudes. Couldn't the reverse also be true? That tropical areas with signs of prior glaciation were once located in much colder places on the planet.

[Heid the Ba]

It seems to be a week for dodgy glacier theories.

By the way, has Snowden been replaced by a photo of the Future Mrs Mactep?

[Мастер]

By the way, has Snowden been replaced by a photo of the Future Mrs Mactep?

Who knows what the future may bring, but if so, the proper title would be Маргарита (Margarita).

[Lianachan]

Nonsense, Arneb! The world is only something like 5,000 years old as well you know!

Edited: Eh? Where's the post I replied to?

[Arneb]

Sorry, Lianachan - just a few momoents ago, I deleted the post you refer to because I thought there were too many errors in - although not THAT particular error...

For the others, here is the post I deleted but managed to salvage from my local cache in quotes

I read about the theory some years ago, and iut was not proposed by some crackpot but actually had traction among respected geologists.

It all happened more than 2 billion years ago, which is more than one Pangea cycle (IIRC, > 600 million years) removed from us and almost 4 times as long as the time from now to the first multicellular organisms.

I guess the abyss of time is deep enough to hide even a few major happenings from us.

[Lianachan]

Thanks - I thought I was going mad. More mad, that is.

[tubeswell]

So does this mean we shouldn't bother about anthropogenic climate change?

[Мастер]

Thanks - I thought I was going mad. More mad, that is.

You have to quote them when someone writes something silly, like the world is more than 5,000 years old. Sooner or later, the malefactor will realise how goofy it sounds and delete the post, but if you quote it, it is preserved for all posterity.

[Lianachan]

Off Topic

Got me looking at this now. Really wish I hadn't.

[Arneb]

You don't deserve any better. As do I

The guy in the video speaks with an Australian accent. I always thought it was only the Americans having completely lost their marbles.

[Arneb]

So does this mean we shouldn't bother about anthropogenic climate change?

I don't see how it should.

[MM_Dandy]

You don't deserve any better. As do I

The guy in the video speaks with an Australian accent. I always thought it was only the Americans having completely lost their marbles.

That's Gary Bates, and I think he's been in America for quite a while now. Perhaps Australia was not so generous?

[tubeswell]

So does this mean we shouldn't bother about anthropogenic climate change?

I don't see how it should.

me neither

[Arneb]

So does this mean we shouldn't bother about anthropogenic climate change?

I don't see how it should.

me neither

Although, someone will undoubteldly try to use it as such, I am sure.

[tubeswell]

Can there be any more ambiguity about it? I mean...