The Earliest Form Of Earth May Have Been Ice Cold

During the first few eras of life forms, the earth was submerged in ice cold oceans, according to researchers. This contradicts the earlier belief the earth's early oceans tended to touch temperatures up to 80 degrees Celsius.

Researchers now seem to believe in the opposite---that the earth was extremely cold.

Examining and analysing volcanic and sedimentary rocks in South Africa at depths of 2 to 4 kilometers, scientists found that they were formed once at latitudes comparable to the Canary Islands. But the sedimentary rocks seemed to be remarkably similar to those known from recent ice ages.

Experts analyzed the links between oxygen isotopes in "cherts," or rocks composed of pure silicium-oxide. They were exposed to high temperatures though they were related to "hydrothermal activity."

Studying finely grained sedimentary rocks present in deep-submarine volcanic rocks, the scientists found gypsum, which is produced "under high pressure and at very cold temperatures," as seen in the depths of oceans that can be seen at present.

"In other words, we have found independent lines of evidence that the climate conditions at this time may have been quite similar to the conditions we have today," Harald Furnes, one of the researchers, said.

While the team agrees that the scientific world would find it tough to accept their findings, Furnes feels that their evidence indicates that the world's oceanic world was based on ice cold temperatures.

Hence, 3.5 billion years ago, the earth evolved from a type of global ice age, as life forms emerged from a cold, rather than a warm planet.

The findings are published in the March 2016 journal Science Advances.