Huronian glaciation

The Huronian glaciation was a series of Paleoproterozoic ice ages, roughly 2.4–2.1 billion years ago, recorded in glacial rocks of the Huronian Supergroup in Canada.

Methane: A carbon-containing gas that absorbs infrared radiation and acts as a greenhouse gas. Its atmospheric decline is one proposed trigger for the cooling associated with Huronian ice.
Paleoproterozoic: The geological era spanning about 2.5 to 1.6 billion years ago. The Huronian glaciations occurred during this early interval of Earth history.
Oxygen catastrophe hypothesis: The proposal that rising oxygen disrupted methane-rich atmospheric conditions and contributed to severe global cooling. It offers a causal link between oxygenation and the onset of Huronian glaciation.
Bruce Formation: A Paleoproterozoic geological formation in Ontario, Canada, within the Huronian Supergroup. Its glacial deposits are among the stratigraphic evidence for Huronian ice advances.
Snowball Earth: A hypothesis that Earth experienced episodes of near-global glaciation. Whether Huronian ice covered the planet or remained regionally extensive is debated.
Carbon dioxide: A naturally occurring atmospheric gas that absorbs infrared radiation and participates in the carbon cycle. Its concentration could have moderated or ended prolonged cooling through volcanic emissions and weathering feedbacks.
Huronian Supergroup: A thick sequence of Paleoproterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks exposed in Ontario, Canada. Its formations preserve the principal geological record used to identify the Huronian glaciations.
Banded iron formation: A chemical sedimentary rock with alternating iron-rich and silica-rich layers, common in Precambrian strata. Its formation reflects changes in ocean chemistry during the broad interval of atmospheric oxygenation.
Gowganda Formation: A Paleoproterozoic formation in Ontario, Canada, containing diamictite and other sedimentary rocks. Its diamictites have been interpreted as evidence of glaciation in the Huronian succession.
Sturtian glaciation: A Cryogenian glaciation that began about 717 million years ago and lasted for tens of millions of years. Its better-studied deposits offer a comparison for evaluating claims of global Huronian ice.

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