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Over 600 million years ago, sheets of ice coated our planet on both land and sea. How did this happen? And most importantly for us, why did the planet eventually thaw again? The evidence for Snowball Earth is written on every continent today.
Thanks to Julio Lacerda and Franz Anthony from Studio 252mya for their wonderful illustrations. You can find more of their work here: 252mya.com/
Special thanks to Judy Pu for answering our questions about Snowball Earth.
Produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios: / pbsdigitalstudios
Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible:
Katie Fichtner, Anthony Callaghan, MissyElliottSmith, The Scintillating Spencer, AA, Zachary Spencer, Stefan Weber, Ilya Murashov, Charles Kahle, Robert Amling, Po Foon Kwong, Larry Wilson, Merri Snaidman, John Vanek, Neil H. Gray, Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle, Gregory Donovan, الخليفي سلطان, Gabriel Cortez, Marcus Lejon, Robert Arévalo, Robert Hill, Todd Dittman, Betsy Radley, PS, Philip Slingerland, Jose Garcia, Eric Vonk, Tony Wamsley, Henrik Peteri, Jonathan Wright, Jon Monteiro, James Bording, Brad Nicholls, Miles Chaston, Michael McClellan, Jeff Graham, Maria Humphrey, Nathan Paskett, Connor Jensen, Daisuke Goto, Hubert Rady, Gregory Kintz, Tyson Cleary, Chandler Bass, Joao Ascensao, Tsee Lee, Sarah Fritts, Alex Yan
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References: docs.google.com/document/d/1d...
Earth : *become snowball* Earth : that was dangerous, let's do it again
Rick enstein *It’s Rewind Time*
Almost as if Earth wasn't a sentient being
What I have learned is that we should make a lot of artifical (well regular ice but frozen by non natural means) ice control global temp.
Who/what is Earth talking to?
Earth is so jackass, live dangerously
@5:44 "Breaking up is hard to do, and rocks usually do it pretty violently." A reminder not to take your relationships for granite. Let your partner know your sediments. Don't be a crust-y old fossil; iron out your faults. Come up with igneous ways to let them know they rock.
Excellent
But erosion will eventually get you
This was great 😂
Haha
Sir, let me remind you of that line from a Radiohead song, "Gravity always wins.".
Could you imagine a volcano that erupts tons of sulfur dioxide for literal years? Damn it really puts into perspective how unimaginably powerful nature is.
Like my friends grandparents house smells lol
The Siberien Traps spewed lava for over a million years, continuously !
Also puts into perspective how lucky we’ve been throughout the last 10,000 or so years. Not on cataclysmic disaster. And when nature decides to serve you up a disaster, it’s an all you can eat, baby.
This is why "saving the earth" phrase doesn't make sense.
Carmela Camba - “Saving the Earth” means keeping it habitable for humans (and all other animals).
Please do more stories about everything. I have yet to see a topic that I'd say, "Nah, skip it."
Instead of "nah, skip it", PBS plays the game of "OOH LOOK THIS LOOKS LIKE IT COULD HELP WITH A SUGGESTED TOPIC. Let's wait for it to be analyzed!"
Wonderful PBS helps me not to questions anything. Hopefully one day the brain behind it gets out of the d k.
Yeah total replacement for education was intention of OP.
now I wanna know the sponges's story!!!!! that's what I call a "cliff hanger"...
Just watch Sponge Bob. Bikini Bottom was a metropolis back then.
@@rdreese84 fun fact: Steve Hillenburg was a marine biologist besides creating THE cartoon of generations. Rip
Agreed, never been so excited about a sponge.
Brew Swillis I love how Bikini Bottom has a beach... ?!
Liked @@ILoveElectroAndHouse's comment because it mentioned a dead person.
It’s almost midnight in middle Europe but who needs sleep if you can have PBS Eons, right?
Schlaf ist für Schattenparker.
@@momon969 no tengo idea de lo que acabas de decir
Mám to také tak. (Same here) :P
W Polsce tak samo
@@momon969 Noch ein deutscher hier.
Is it just me or does her voice make for great narration?
She did a great job I thought.
I'm surprised Mike Rowe didn't do it, he does everything else.
She narrates just like Danielle from animalogic
mrdonetx It’s not just you. She’s terrific. Great science communicator.
She does have a soothing voice.
"Breaking up is hard to do". That one hurt.
Andrew Phillips it did lol
You wanna talk about it?
PBS eons should do a video about the Wallace Line. The division between the flora and fauna of Australia and Southeast Asia. Edit: I’m glad they did and to see it blow up.
@@TheBelrick too much carbon isn't great for us
That would be really interesting! I guess in the meantime, i have a google hole to dive down now lol
@@TheBelrick It's always the dose that makes it poison. In right dose something can be medicine, but if taken too much, it can be poison. Even though water is essential to life, I am sure you would have a really hard time trying to breath under water.
the more carbon we have the more lush our forests will be. CO2 has no correlation to warming or cooling. its all about the sun
Neil Adams .. growing earth theory explains this.. even if its a wild unproven theory
I wish I could talk about stuff like these in Jamaica with the Jamaican people but they don't care much for these kinds of stuff. Love PBS EONS. Greetings from Jamaica
almost anywhere for that matter really .. hahaha
Same here in Alabama. You bring up topics like this and they call you a queer nerd.
Probably not much of a luxury like public education? Some people may have enough to think about just trying to survive from day to day and trying to cover 4.5 billion years of changing earth can't just start in the middle for a proper understanding. Give them a break, they have the same potential everybody else does, just not the same privileges.
@Lucid Dreamer I was and I'm glad for you. You are not all or even most people. Most people cite those exact reasons for why they can't uproot. There has to be an exception to every rule and I'm glad you gained something from it. Not all of us are that fortunate.
@Lucid Dreamer it would also seem like opportunity would also be key.
It's amazing how no matter what happens, Earth always finds a way to restore its balance.
Yes, although I wouldn't want to wait millions of years until earth finally recovers from the damage we are currently causing in just a century.
I like to consider us historical reenactors of the carboniferous
Until modern humans came along
This made me appreciate how incredible it is for life to exist on earth
I wish when you guys would show the million years ago timeline, that it would start out on the billion years ago timeline, and zoom in. It would help me to visualize when during Earth's history certain events happened.
Fantastic suggestion.
"raises the question" - A+ to the editor that replaced "begs the question" with this more correct formulation
Sometimes I wish I was an immortal eye, peering at the earth since the beginning of time. Watching all the changes that came to the ground and the life on it. Remembering it all, knowing the countless events which are a mystery to our modern life.
Long naps required.
Would love to work on this channel
MOBOX Graphics you should have higher goals than this show
@@PeachesiceT No let him have his goals. I've seen his animations and he would totally fit in as an animator for this channel.
@@PeachesiceT what you are talking about, this channel would be great to work for
Did you get your wish?
@@mdhsneaky4421 Sadly no, but I do work on similar channels, check out Real Engineering and Real Science!
Can't wait for that sponges episode. Also, I'd like to see one about history of the reefs
@@cool-hf2pe No... at least, not the barrier reef.
This videos are so interesting, thank you PBS Eons. It comes to show how catastrophic earths history actually is, something that I think most people ignore. Be it by volcanoes that surge from the Earth's interior, or being struck by huge meteors, Earth history is made from stuff that preachers of the apocalypses talk about, interesting, scary stuff, always enjoyable to watch in these videos.
I was taught in school that catastrophism was categorically wrong because the grand canyon hasn't changed in over 100 years. I wish I could get a refund on my time.
@@nuadathesilverhand3563 Yeah one of the issues in geology was the view of exclusively steady state and catastrophic geology competing for the longest time. In reality we now know that both were true and non negligible often things happen slowly but every now and then things happen quickly on the order of a few million down to a few thousand years (and in the case of the End Cretaceous extinction event probably hours to years for the various contributing factors)
I'm sorry but the scope, the attention to detail, the presentation, and the utmost passion and devotion this channel shows to the story of life on Earth almost brings me to tears every time.
I wanna like this comment...but it's got 42 likes at the moment. That's so perfect I just can't. :)
Can you please make big bar on top of regular bar on top of screen which shows where that era is, and every time you guys show some bar of period, we can see where that period is since many of us don`t know order of eras, and we can visually see for example how far away that period was from t-rex :) (i know there is year indication, but it would be most appealing)
mikiGudy they would have to actually understand how old the earth really is to do that and that would help you determine they don’t know s***
@@MileHighGrove Uh, that's where you're wrong friend. :) We have a pretty good idea how old are planet is thanks to the rocks that make up the cores of Mountains and Uranium to Lead Radiometric dating. uranium-238's decay to Lead-206 has a half-life of 4.6 billion years. Does that figure sound familiar?
Good idea, mikiGudy.
@@MileHighGrove Why are you here? It's pretty well concluded how old the earth is, 4.5 billion years. A lot of the stuff talked about on here is from 3.5 BYA to now. They have it all ordered out with the different periods and eras... but like the OP I would appreciate having a visual bar at the top that gives me an idea of what timeframe is being discussed in the video.
+
i loved growing up on pbs. i wish more parents that let the tv babysit their kids will at least shove em in front of pbs and not nickeloden or disney. i was such a nerd i would watch the evening shows too. but then again we didnt have cable so who knows what i really woulda bn watching
Diabolical Butler I grew up on pbs kids.
Oh, absolutely. I grew up on stuff like Sesame Street, saw the original "Cosmos" when I was about six, etc. I've often thought that if I had kids I'd plunk 'em in front of stuff like Eons, Sci-Show, Origin of Everything and It's Okay to Be Smart. And the littler kids, I'd play them things like those videos where cartoon planets do a catchy rap about the solar system. :)
I had cable and the answer is 'animal planet' god I wish they'd bring meerkat manor back
I grew up on PBS and National Geographic (when it was a VHS collection my grandpa had). I definitely enjoyed that and still love learning today. So I'm here! This is great. :)
Whenever PBS Eons does an episode on something that was in The Entire History of the World I guess I have to go and watch the entire thing again.
tanya292 and it may become a snowball for a while maybe twice
@@whafflete6721 haha Yess!!
There was at least one Eons episode where when Blake mentioned the Cambrian Explosion, he SANG the words. XD (Maybe two. There was confusion about the first time it happened. :P)
When I hear things like 500 million years .. it just boggles my mind!!
Any time I come here I just feel stupid for having once believed in the bible... lol
@@Galiant2010 gods real but believe what you want when you die you will fill dumb
@@cool-hf2pe feel*
Ar, might want to reread your post before calling others dumb 😂
@Doctor Drywell you have evidence that he isn't real nope you don't
I just learned about fire fountains. This planet is amazing- garden paradise and hell all in one.
It is really neat and somewhat counter-intuitive how volcanoes can be agents of warmth and cooling. If I recall from my geology course, felsic-intermediate explosives volcanos release aerosols that cause cooling and but the effusive volcanos, which are mafic and hotter and more viscous, don’t eject material necessary to produce volcanic winters... correct me if I’m wrong. Anyways, PBS Eons I have a video request for the story of Hyaenidae and how one species made it to America. I think after Canidae and Felidae, They are worthy predators to mention. Especially for your Old World listeners.
You’re right! Mafic volcanoes do produce lower viscosity magma. This allows the gas bubble (vesicles) to bubble up and escape from the surface. An example would be the Hawaiian Islands. However, more felsic magmas which have a higher silica content have higher viscosity(resistance to flow) which doesn’t allow gases to escape leading to more explosive behavior and ash flows/falls.
We are talking about lava hotspots the size of the deckan trap. I'd say the bigger the size the more gas will be emitted. Therefore I would argue that the sheer size of the hotspot is responsable for a sudden athmospheric warming.
Y Comments so big?
At my pause at work, open youtube like always. Sees there's an episode of Eons "There's a video?! There's a video!"
It's amazing we're here at all
The first time I heard about the earth being a snowball was in 7th grade in 2000. I was always curious how it happened. And this is the first time I've ever heard volcanoes being more helpful than harmful. Very insightful 👍👍
The irony that volcanoes led to snowball earth twice..
Stay tuned, perhaps it will happen again. Soon 😉
@@seekernotlost3815 I'm still waiting for Yellowstone to go apeshit.
cosmicVox13 Cosmic rays much?
Please, tell as about South America ungulates (Meridiungulata), this ansiant mammalian group is so interesting, but there is no so much information about them.
Ancient*
say what ?????
Like tapirs?
@@jwinthepro No, it's another oder (no Artiodactyls and no Perissodactyla), they lived in South America long before first tapirs or lamas came there. This group diversified in the stange world, there was no elephants, but were giant sloths; no wolfs but carnivorous birds. And in this stange world they became no less strange herbivorous.
I love love love this channel! It reminds me of just how special, beautiful, and one-of-a-kind our planet is. Thank you PSB Eons
I admit, that my highschool chemistry is a bit rusty right now, but I think there is mistake at 7:10. When you mix SO2 and H2O result will be H2SO3 not H2SO4. H2SO3 is still acidicic, but nowhere on the level of H2SO4. If the H2SO4 was raining down on us fun would be over very soon...
There is possibility that SO2 in presence of Nitrogen oxides as catalyst might convert intoSO3 and form H2SO4. The amount and concentration of the acid might be not large enough to kill living organisms on Earth. It will however alter enviroment and inhibit some organisms in favour of more low pH tolerant forms. Just speculation.
Sulfurous acid, H2SO3 becomes Sulfuric acid, H2SO4 by accepting another oxygen atom out of the atmosphere.
Well I was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else saw it. And no H2SO4 is not as easy to make as some here claim. Sulfuric acid always start with SO3 and not SO2.
"But that's a story for another time..." You Paleological Scheherazade!
.... now I'm craving for some arabic stories. Thank you!
@@KlavierMenn the same feeling
😂
This comment brough so much happiness to my life. Brilliant!
i love this channel so much. I remember this being covered in class but I didn't quite understand all the moving parts of what happened. This video helped me finally piece it together. Thank you PBS
If the continental plates were shifting so violently during that time period, I think their separation points would probably be where the ice was thin enough to support photosynthesis. The shifting would generate/release heat and constantly cause cracks to firm in the ice, after all.
To volcanoes: the cause of - and solution to - all of prehistoric Earth's climate control problems.
Thanks PBS Eons...now I can't get the "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" song outta my head! Thanks! For anyone else wanting it stuck in their heads...here ya go: 5:44
A...breaking up is hard to do.so practice alot.latta
"They say that breaking up is hard to dooo/Now I know, I know that it's truuuue..." I was recently putting together a playlist of early '60s songs, so no worries, that one was already in my head anyway. :P
One of my favorite episodes!! Really great coverage anD made me appreciate how fragile the road to complex life is
I find these videos incredibly humbling. It's a wonderful trip in each episode to think about the grand scheme of the long history of our planet. It makes me understand better how long the world has been around, and makes me feel therefore calmer about any problems I might have
Thank you, Eons, for continuing to educate the American population and showing what real science actually is. Right now there are forces that are seeking to deny what science has taught us and we need as many voices as possible to remind us how beautiful and exact science can be.
@@frankschneider6156 true, but I enjoy the US.
Extremophiles, those little things that live off of volcanic vents and stuff, could they have had a hand in preserving life? This was not brought up in the video.
There are sponges that live by vents so it's possible they are saving that discussion for the next video.
The problem with suggesting hydrothermal vents as the sole or main abode for life during the cryogenian is that they do not produce the conditions for oxygenated water and evidence suggests the sea floor was probably largely anoxic before the ice developed with deep water fossils not showing up until the Ediacaran. Sponges are multicellular Eukaryotes meaning the lack of oxygen at depth is a pretty big deal. Of course we can't rule out the possibility since sea ice formation can drive the sinking of seawater the problem is that during the glaciation most of the ice deposition was occurring at the poles and as such there wouldn't be exposed seas to absorb oxygen into the water. However Sponges are quite simple compared to other animals so it makes a low oxygen environment far more likely than an active animal. There are many sides to this argument and there isn't yet a consensus on the issue. Probably the larger issue at least according to some of the papers I have read is that the Sturtian overlaps with the time period that molecular clock dating suggests for the divergence between bilaterians and cnidarians two major orders of mobile complex animals which most modern animals are descended from. Given the number of surprisingly complex traits shared by both groups the last common ancestor was likely a mix of both groups with two major body layers one of which would divide into two separate layers in bilaterians a well defined body axis muscles and a neural network. Those are energy expensive traits that likely needed an oxygen rich environment. Don't get me wrong I have no doubt that things like sponges could probably meek it out in a volcanic environment but an environment where worm like mobile organisms could evolve. For that the leading hypothesis last I checked bolstered as models continue to improve seems to be one suggesting multi cellular plant and animal life probably survived within the oxygen rich meltwater pools cracks and fissures near the equator. The issue is largely still highly up for debate so it isn't surprising they skipped this.
Dragrath1 Very long, didn’t read
@@Dragrath1 I was under the impression that only single celled organisms survived the very first global iceball (when oxygen ruined everything) and that the multicellular life arose (again but distinctly) after the last thawing.
I love these videos! Thanks A LOT for your work, guys!
Slushball Earth is such a great band name
Maybe life flourished under the thick ice by getting energy from underwater volcanoes (which some aquatic species still do on Earth, and that theory also supports that there might be life under the ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa.
eons is my favorite series on youtube
22vx I feel sorry for you
You could have explained more of why sulphur dioxides helps cooling the planet. Just in case anyone is curious, it does so by forming aerosols, as sulfur dioxide forms sulphate aerosols in the stratosphere. Stratospheric aerosols reflect a lot of the Sun's light at the stratosphere, which makes impossible for that radiation to reach the troposphere and, consequently, the surface of the planet
All these things you talk about in your videos are so interesting, I wish I could remember them for more than two hours
I honestly learn better Stuff then I ever did in school watching these videos!!! Thank you PBS Eons & the ppl the ppl who work hard on these vids to give us this info!!!! 👏
"Low CO2 levels cool the earth" The plot thickens....
01:28 -- For some reason, I think that is the coolest thing ever. That is just amazing looking ... a dynamic single moment in a long endless trickle of moments, billions of years worth of them. That is just so flipping cool.
This PBS program is totally awesome. I wish I had grown up learning all these information with and through them. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm a sponge for snowball earth literature, your presentation was really amazing. thanks! kinda making me like PBS again?
PBS Eons: Sponges were almost unkillable [insert comment about SpongeBob being the longest running series on Nickelodeon]
If the next episode doesn't start with a host singing the spongebob squarepants theme, I'll be severely disappointed
Inb4 demonitised
Nathan Ross I would like with a tiny tweak: “Who lived before pineapples under the sea?”
I now have a sudden urge to watch Snowpiercer again.
I love that this awesome channel is trending! Wholly deserved.
Not sulfur is released by volcanoes but sulfur dioxide (S burns to SO2)
Nice, new Eons upload! :3
I stumbled over this channel by accident 2 month or so ago and I've been binging vids since
I can't stop watching these videos....so glad I found these!
PBS eons should do a video about the terrestrial godnwanian crocodilomorphs
"Terrestrial Gondwanian crocodylomorphs" - File under: future band names.
Oof. Igneous rock gets to be a province but the people living in the Canadian Arctic only get to be a territory
Loved the music on this one!!
Classic beautiful enlightenment by our very own favourite Fossil Librarian - this is still just such a treat! Happy holidays and lots of love all the way from Denmark ❤🤗
New superhero, THE SPONGE!!! Can't wait.
How far back in time could a stranded time traveler still survive by living off the land?
Carboniferous. The oxy high would make us to dumb to live. We would remember just enough and be reckless enough to kill ourselves.
I’ve heard the Carboniferous ~300 million years ago would be the first possible time that the oxygen would be breathable and there would be sufficient plant and animal life to sustain us (if we don’t take into account microorganisms that could kill us and things like that). So, from 4.568 billion years, the earth was toxic to us for four billion, two hundred sixty-eight million of those years.
I really love watching PBS eons.
Ahhh, Earth is so cool! I always love learning about this weird speck of dust we call home.
While I can understand how fossilized magnetism can reveal the orientation of the ancient rocks, I don’t see how it can reveal their location.
I posted a long reply and accidentally deleted it and now I want to cry
This is pretty much the best channel on KZhead!
PBS Space Time cough cough
Quade Carter 👎
I remember hearing about the Snowball Earth Theory back in high school and now I know so much more! Thanks for always keeping me educated!
These episodes are so good, I'm watching them twice! 💯💯💯
OMG I kept requesting one on snowball earth and here it is! 😍 I don't know if that helped to get this video but thanks so much anyways, you guys rock!
I would love to know how tides worked (or didn't) during these freezes.
I'm waiting whole week for the new episode. Thanks for all episodes
Best explanation of Snowball Earth I have ever heard. Well Done.
Who lived under the frozen sea during Snowball Earth? Spongebob Squarepants! :D
Sean Ryan no one, the anunaki came here to populate earth for gold.
@@robertmackenzie3973 Do they didn't. You're wrong. I was there!
Caveman Spongebob is in the snowball earth era, thats why its dark throughout the whole time lol
Right in a pineapple cool!!
Thats how papa johns pizza evolved from the crusty crab pizza.
Yosemite: explodes Ice: happens
The was she said "Where it was warmer and wetter which weathered the rock even faster." is so poetic to me. Like a warm-up for speaking.
I'm so grateful for this channel! :)
"While the most popular theory is that our planet's thermostat just ...Failed." Nah, it's more likely the sensor that failed. These older model planets have a lot of problems with the climate sensors. I'll switch it out, I won't even charge you for it.
So Spongebob is responsible for all of us living today Because his pineapple under the sea could withstand a blizzard
I am pretty sure half of us are spawned from Patrick, and half of us are spawned from squidward, but yes thanks to Spongebob we survived!
You know that Spongebob Squarepants' twentieth birthday is today . Debuted on Nickelodeon July 17, 1999
i.redd.it/vy8o4w8ccle21.jpg
I absolutly live you guys!!! I'm planning on going to collage for this stuff I love it so much! Keep us the amazing videos guys I love em!
Well... I'm off to work now.....
One day Earth looked like Enceladus. Albedo 101%
Its crazy. If none of this happened, we wouldn't be here.
Fascinating video and well narrated! Thank you!
this vid was more informative than my geography classes. Thank you!
time traveler: do a video on how oil caused the fireball earth
Felipe Lorenzzon I also thought that they must have time travel abilities. They may like to include the words theory and thesis
Moth or butterfly evolution please!!!
Clear and concise explaining thanks
Amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Could you guys do a video on the evolution of otters, i want to know how sea otters became cute and fluffy. But river otters are water goblins
That sounds adorable and terrifying at the same time.
@@nicholaslewis8594 exactly like otters my friend
Male sea otters sometimes will essentially hold baby otters hostage so that females will gather food for them. Sea otters have a dark side, too.
@@melvinshine9841 tbh they are all water goblins and thats ok i think
You guys are the best! I love your vids. If you did something about Madagascar or New Zealand it would be so cool
They've at least covered the ratite birds (Moa, kiwi, elephant bird, etc.), so there's that one for a start.
@@lewisirwin5363 Yeah I watched that video and it was very good, I enjoyed it. But there's thousands of other strange creatures from the islands
I live in New Zealand, not entirely accurate at all!
@@PeachesiceT well that's cuz those animals are normal to you
Honestly, this is very well made. Also very educational.
Got a chill up my spine.....
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen" - Steven Wright.
"now there have been glaciers on our planet before, in fact we still have some now" *Nervously laughs in climate change*
just release tons of sulfur into the air it will fix the warming issue and the human issue ;)
@@oyoo3323 Yep, rains of sulfuric acid would sure solve that one problem right quick...
Just one big enough volcano or one big enough rock from space and you won't have to worry about it.
Nuclear winter will fix global warming.
Climate change - Snowball Earth in reverse. Now it's Dirtball Earth.
Thank you, PBS!
this is without a doubt the best channel on youtube