Articles by TechBriefs

This week’s question concerns the origin of the Ice Age. Last week, a research team led by University of Maryland geology professor Alan Kaufman uncovered evidence that oxygenation of the Earth’s atmosphere coincided with the first massive Ice Age on the planet. Using sulfur isotopes to determine the oxygen content of rocks in South Africa, the scientists found evidence of a sudden increase in atmospheric oxygen that coincided with physical evidence of glacial debris. The scientists theorize the oxygen reacted with methane to form carbon dioxide, whose poor heat-retention properties in turn caused surface temperatures to plummet dramatically and cause vast ice sheets to form. What do you think? Could the rise of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere have caused the first Ice Age? Yes or no?
Vote here.