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23.1 |
Snowball Earth |
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The Snowball Earth Hypothesis proposes that during an ice age 900 mya, the
entire land and oceanic surface the Earth was covered by ice. This animation
shows four proposed stages to the formation and destruction of Snowball
Earth conditions:
•During "normal" climate periods there are ice caps at the poles; sea level
rises and falls.
•During "metastable" climate times ice sheets expand and contract
dramatically.
"Runaway snowball" conditions develop and ice nearly envelopes the Earth;
atmospheric carbon dioxide is not absorbed by the frozen ocean.
The rising concentration of unabsorbed carbon dioxide gas leads to a
"runaway greenhouse effect"; Earth warms and the ice shell rapidly vanishes.
[by Declan DePaor] |
As the Earth's oceans heat up, what happens to the carbon dioxide that
is dissolved in the sea water. Does CO2 dissolve more easily in
cold water or warm water? Design an experiment to find out.
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