Cryogenian

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/cryogenian

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the geologic period?Cryogenian
2. What is the time span?720 to 635 million years ago
3. Why did Earth become a "Snowball Earth" during the Cryogenian?Scientists think the planet froze almost all over, even the oceans, because of huge ice sheets that covered the surface, shown by glacial rocks near the equator and special carbonate layers.
4. How long did the Sturtian glaciation last?The Sturtian ice age lasted about 70 million years, one of the longest ice ages in Earth's history.

Neoproterozoic Era: The final era of the Proterozoic Eon, preceding the Phanerozoic, characterized by significant geological and biological changes.
Cap Carbonates: Distinctive layers of carbonate rock that often directly overlie glacial deposits, indicative of rapid post-glacial warming.
Paleomagnetic Latitudes: Latitudes determined by studying the magnetic orientation of rocks, used to reconstruct past continental positions and climate zones.