Study Says Glaciers Formed During a Very Warm Period
Giant glaciers formed about 90 million years ago during a warm period when alligators thrived in the Arctic, researchers said Thursday, calling into question the belief that all ice melts in a “super greenhouse” climate.
The researchers’ study, based on organic molecules in ocean sediments and chemicals in ancient fossil shells, indicated that there were ice sheets in Antarctica in parts of the Turonian period, one of the warmest times in history, when dinosaurs thrived.
The researchers, in the study published in the journal Science, wrote that the “super greenhouse climate” was “not a barrier to the formation of large ice sheets, calling into question the common assumption that the poles were always ice-free during past periods of intense global warming.”
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The researchers’ study, based on organic molecules in ocean sediments and chemicals in ancient fossil shells, indicated that there were ice sheets in Antarctica in parts of the Turonian period, one of the warmest times in history, when dinosaurs thrived.
The researchers, in the study published in the journal Science, wrote that the “super greenhouse climate” was “not a barrier to the formation of large ice sheets, calling into question the common assumption that the poles were always ice-free during past periods of intense global warming.”