Snowball Earth termination by destabilization of equatorial permafrost methane clathrate

Martin Kennedy (), David Mrofka and Chris von der Borch
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Martin Kennedy: University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA
David Mrofka: University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA
Chris von der Borch: School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, South Australia, 5001 Australia

Nature, 2008, vol. 453, issue 7195, 642-645

Abstract: Snowball Earth: Exit strategy The recovery from the Marinoan 'snowball' ice age of about 635 million years ago is one of the most severe climate change events known to have occurred on Earth. Hypotheses accounting for the abruptness of deglaciation include ice albedo feedback, deep-ocean out-gassing during post-glacial oceanic overturn or methane hydrate destabilization. Martin Kennedy and colleagues now report the broadest range of oxygen isotope values yet measured in marine sediments in methane seeps in Marinoan deglacial sediments underlying a thin interval of carbonate; these deposits are thought to record widespread oceanic carbonate precipitation during postglacial sea level rise. The range of values is likely the result of mixing between ice-sheet-derived meteoric waters and clathrate-derived fluids during the flushing and destabilization of a clathrate field by glacial meltwater. Their findings suggest that methane released from low-latitude permafrost clathrates acted as a trigger and/or strong positive feedback for deglaciation and warming.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06961

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