Snowball Earth: Ancient Ocean Where Life Evolved 600 Million Years Ago Discovered in Himalayas

(Photo : Sebastien Berger / Getty Images)
A 600-million-year-old ancient ocean formed during Snowball Earth was found in the Himalayas.

The Himalayas have lately been the site of the discovery of an ancient ocean that existed during the time of Snowball Earth, 600 million years ago, when life began to evolve.

Ancient Ocean From 600 Million Years Ago in the Himalayas

A momentous achievement was realized in the Himalayas when researchers from Japan's Niigata University and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) joined forces in a collaborative endeavor.

Their groundbreaking discovery entailed the finding of water droplets, presumed to originate from an ancient ocean that thrived approximately 600 million years ago, and had been ensnared within mineral layers.

This remarkable revelation sheds light on vital aspects of Earth's history and offers insights into the nature of its primordial seas.

The discovery is especially exciting since it could provide information about previous glacial periods on Earth.

Approximately 700 to 500 million years ago, our planet underwent a series of glaciations known as Snowball Earth events. These periods were defined by prolonged and extensive ice coverage, with massive ice sheets encasing a significant portion of the Earth's surface.

Following this epoch, the Second Great Oxygenation Event occurred, resulting in a significant increase in atmospheric oxygen levels.

This momentous event played a crucial role in paving the path for the rise and prosperity of complex life forms on Earth.

The study by the joint effort of the two institutes was recently published in the scientific journal Precambrian Research.

Snowball Earth and the Second Great Oxygenation Event

Because of the scarcity of adequately preserved fossils and the extinction of former oceans, it has been difficult to understand the relationship between these events.

The Himalayas' exposure of marine rocks has provided a chance to investigate these prehistoric habitats, nevertheless.

The scientific team found deposits that were present during the Snowball Earth glacial. These deposits showed a persistent calcium shortage in the sedimentary basins, which was probably brought on by a lack of riverine input at the time.

As a result, the calcium precipitation increased the amount of magnesium, revealing information about the circumstances of the ancient ocean, WION reported.

The theory put up by the researchers is that once the magnesium deposits solidified, ancient ocean water was able to be stored in their pores.

This suggested that slow-growing photosynthetic cyanobacteria might have flourished in the absence of calcium input and movement in the ancient oceans.

These cyanobacteria might have helped the atmosphere get more oxygen, which might have sparked biological evolution or radiation.

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Understanding Evolution

The results could reveal important details about previous oceanic conditions, such as pH levels, chemistry, as well as isotopic composition.

This discovery significantly added to the collective understanding of the evolution of seas and life on Earth because up until now, this information was simply theorized or modeled.

These ancient deposits may yield important new information about the Earth's historical climate as well as useful data for climate modeling with more study and analysis.

The team investigated a large area of the western Kumaon Himalayas extensively to find these deposits, and via meticulous laboratory investigation, they were able to demonstrate that these deposits originated from precipitation coming from ancient ocean water instead of from alternative sources such as subsurface volcanic activity.

The ancient history of the planet's waters can now be studied in new ways thanks to this ground-breaking finding, MyIndMakers reported.

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