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Earth science

Gas hydrates and deglaciations

Nature volume 412, pages 691–692 (2001)Cite this article

Long ago, Earth experienced a series of especially severe glaciations. A new explanation for deposits laid down at the end of these events centres on the large-scale release of methane from solid gas hydrates.

The Earth's harshest glaciations occurred between about 600 million and 800 million years ago, in the late Neoproterozoic era. The severity of the glaciations was first recognized1 in the 1960s. Some 30 years later came the suggestion that during these intervals the entire Earth was covered with ice, hence the name by which this idea has become known2 — snowball Earth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Stein B. Jacobsen

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  1. Stein B. Jacobsen
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Correspondence to Stein B. Jacobsen.

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Jacobsen, S. Gas hydrates and deglaciations. Nature 412, 691–692 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35089168

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