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Passing through a giant molecular cloud: “Snowball” glaciations produced by interstellar dust
Author(s) -
Pavlov Alexander A.,
Toon Owen B.,
Pavlov Anatoli K.,
Bally John,
Pollard David
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl021890
Subject(s) - snowball earth , milky way , astrobiology , interplanetary dust cloud , cosmic dust , physics , galaxy , astronomy , solar system , molecular cloud , albedo (alchemy) , interstellar cloud , atmosphere (unit) , astrophysics , interstellar medium , geology , glacial period , paleontology , meteorology , stars , art , performance art , art history
In its motion through the Milky Way galaxy, the solar system encounters an average ‐density (≥330 H atoms cm −3 ) giant molecular cloud (GMC) approximately every 10 8 years, a dense (∼2 × 10 3 H atoms cm −3 ) GMC every ∼10 9 years and will inevitably encounter them in the future [ Talbot and Newman , 1977]. However, there have been no studies linking such events with severe (snowball) glaciations in Earth history. Here we show that dramatic climate change can be caused by interstellar dust accumulating in Earth's atmosphere during the solar system's immersion into a dense (∼2 × 10 3 H atoms cm −3 ) GMC. The stratospheric dust layer from such interstellar particles could provide enough radiative forcing to trigger the runaway ice‐albedo feedback that results in global snowball glaciations. We also demonstrate that more frequent collisions with less dense GMCs could cause moderate ice ages.