Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 38, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2011GL048846
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- NSF [ANT-0739779]
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
- Directorate For Geosciences [0739779] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The existence of photosynthetic eukaryotic algae during the so-called Snowball Earth events presents a conundrum. If thick ice covered the oceans, where could such life persist? Here we explore the possibility that photosynthetic life persisted at the end of long narrow seas, analogous to the modern-day Red Sea. In this first analytical model, we test the ability of the global sea glacier to penetrate a Red Sea analogue under climatic conditions appropriate during a Snowball Earth event. We find the Red Sea is long enough to provide a refugium only if certain ranges of climatic conditions are met. These ranges would likely expand if the restrictive effect of a narrow entrance strait is also considered. Citation: Campbell, A. J., E. D. Waddington, and S. G. Warren (2011), Refugium for surface life on Snowball Earth in a nearly-enclosed sea? A first simple model for sea-glacier invasion, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L19502, doi:10.1029/2011GL048846.
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