@article{d05bdc0c2a0943fb92cf6e4bfecdf16e,
title = "Geologic evidence for an icehouse Earth before the Sturtian global glaciation",
abstract = "Snowball Earth episodes, times when the planet was covered in ice, represent the most extreme climate events in Earth{\textquoteright}s history. Yet, the mechanisms that drive their initiation remain poorly constrained. Current climate models require a cool Earth to enter a Snowball state. However, existing geologic evidence suggests that Earth had a stable, warm, and ice-free climate before the Neoproterozoic Sturtian global glaciation [ca. 717 million years (Ma) ago]. Here, we present eruption ages for three felsic volcanic units interbedded with glaciolacustrine sedimentary rocks from southwest Virginia, USA, that demonstrate that glacially influenced sedimentation occurred at tropical latitudes ca. 751 Ma ago. Our findings are the first geologic evidence of a cool climate teetering on the edge of global glaciation several million years before the Sturtian Snowball Earth.",
author = "MacLennan, {Scott A.} and Eddy, {Michael P.} and Merschat, {Arthur J.} and Mehra, {Akshay K.} and Crockford, {Peter W.} and Maloof, {Adam C.} and Southworth, {C. Scott} and Blair Schoene",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments: We thank N. Jeevanjee and G. Vecchi for helpful discussions that improved the manuscript. C. Bentley is thanked for inspiring our research in the Appalachians. S. Burgess and four anonymous reviewers are thanked for thorough reviews that improved the manuscript. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. government. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).",
year = "2020",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1126/sciadv.aay6647",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "6",
journal = "Science advances",
issn = "2375-2548",
publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
number = "24",
}