Abstract

Arising from: W. R. Peltier, Y. Liu & J. W. Crowley Nature 450, 813–818 (2007); Peltier & Liu reply

The 'snowball Earth' hypothesis¹ interprets geological evidence as indicating multi-million-year episodes of global glaciation near the beginning and end of the Proterozoic eon. On the basis of a coupled carbon cycle–climate model, Peltier et al.² propose that temperature-dependent remineralization of organic carbon in a Neoproterozoic ocean with 100–1,000 more dissolved organic carbon than today³ could create a negative climate feedback, thereby preventing a snowball Earth. Their results are sensitive to initial conditions and model parameters⁴; moreover, important geological observations and components of the carbon cycle are not considered—notably the absence of sources or sinks of carbon. Their model results² fall short of explaining the geological evidence in the absence of global glaciation.

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