Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (10)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by SMITH, A. G.
Right arrow Articles by PICKERING, K. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2003; v. 160; issue.3; p. 337-340;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764902-115
© 2003 Geological Society of London

Short Communication

Oceanic gateways as a critical factor to initiate icehouse Earth

ALAN G. SMITH1 & KEVIN T. PICKERING2

1 1Department of Earth Sciences University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3EQ UK (e-mail: ags1@esc.cam.ac. uk)
2 2Department of Earth Sciences UCL (University College London) Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK (e-mail: ucfbktp@ucl.acuk)

We propose a unifying explanation for the four major icehouses during the past c.620 million years: earliest Oligocene to Present; early Carboniferous to early Permian; late Ordovician and late Vendian (the ‘snowball Earth’) all of which appear to have been initiated as a result of two plate-tectonic processes. The first moved some continents into polar latitudes; while there the second process opened and closed oceanic low latitude gateways that changed global oceanic circulation from one with important circum-equatorial currents (greenhouse) to one with inhibited circum-equatorial deep-water currents (icehouse) and more restricted oceanic gyres.

Key Words: Icehouse • glaciations • greenhouse • oceanic gateways




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
I. J. Fairchild and M. J. Kennedy
Neoproterozoic glaciation in the Earth System
Journal of the Geological Society, 2007; 164: 895 - 921.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological MagazineHome page
W. B. HARLAND
Origins and assessment of snowball Earth hypotheses
Geological Magazine, 2007; 144: 633 - 642.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 South African Journal of GeologyHome page
L.L. Coetzee, N.J. Beukes, J. Gutzmer, and T. Kakegawa
Links of organic carbon cycling and burial to depositional depth gradients and establishment of a snowball Earth at 2.3Ga. Evidence from the Timeball Hill Formation,Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa.
South African Journal of Geology, 2006; 109: 109 - 122.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]