What Triggered ‘Snowball Earths’?

Findings about what triggered the snowball Earth twice in the history of the planet have been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. MIT scientists say that Snowball Earths were likely the product of ‘rate-induced glaciations’.

They suggest that whatever triggered the Earth’s ice ages most likely involved processes that quickly reduced the amount of solar radiation coming to the surface, such as widespread volcanic eruptions or biologically induced cloud formation that could have significantly blocked out the sun’s rays.