Archean Paleo-climate: The first snowball?

Abstract

The model accepted is one where during the Archean Eon the Earths climate was clement despite the weaker Sun. The observational evidence that supports this concept is: the emergence of life, the existence of evaporitic sediments and the presence of terrigenous sediments, all of which require liquid water and clement conditions. A theoretical argument used to support this idea is the so called ice-albedo feedback, which states that if the Earth was frozen, it would still be frozen.The aim of this document is to present an alternative scenario in which a frozen world, "snowball" style, with liquid water at the bottom of the sea, also allows for the emergence of life and evaporitic and terrigenous sedimentation. Archean climatic evidence, available at present, is discussed and can be reinterpreted to support the idea that, in Archean times, the surface of the Earth was frozen. Also, a mathematical model is being developed to demonstrate that the ice-albedo feedback is not an inevitable consequence of a frozen Archean Eon. Results: Reinterpretation of the evidence shows that life could appear within the oceanic depths and not necessarily on the surface. The evaporitic sediments could have formed by saline saturation of the water enclosed in the limited cavities of liquid water located at the bottom of the ocean. Also, the terrigenous sediments could have been formed by catastrophic currents of liquid water due to the fusion of the ice from the sub glacial volcanoes. From the mathematical model it is deduced that the defrosting moment of the Earth is towards the end of the Proterozoic, moment in which the evidence shows the "snowball" Earth ends.