Salt may have amplified Earth’s descent into a “Snowball Earth” state around 700 million years ago through salt- albedo feedback, according to research published in Climate of the Past.

Cryogenian climate models investigate the extreme “Snowball Earth” glaciations of the Cryogenian Period (roughly 720–635 million years ago), particularly the long Sturtian (~717–660 Ma) and Marinoan (~645–635 Ma) events. These models explore how Earth could enter a near-global ice-covered state, the climate dynamics once frozen, and how it could escape that state.