Large methane release could cause abrupt climate change as happened 635 million years ago

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Dolomite cement formed from oxidized methane as it evolved from melting methane hydrates at the end of the snowball Earth glaciation present in wave-cut platforms at Marino Rocks South Australia. The dolomite is orange-red and formed vertical plumbin ...
Dolomite cement, formed from oxidized methane as it evolved from melting methane hydrates at the end of the snowball Earth glaciation, present in wave-cut platforms at Marino Rocks, South Australia. The dolomite is orange-red and formed vertical plumbing of tubes and vugs as methane passed upward and disrupted overlying sediment. Credit: M. Kennedy, UC Riverside

An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, about 635 million years ago from ice sheets that then extended to Earth’s low latitudes caused a dramatic shift in climate, triggering a series of events that resulted in global warming and effectively ended the last “snowball” ice age, a UC Riverside-led study reports.


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