Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary
Maybe. CO2 has a greenhouse effect, but from what I've read scientists still believe that volcanic activity has caused ice ages in the past including during a similar hot, high-CO2 period, the Jurassic period transition to an ice age.
The last "mini ice age" supposedly took place in the 6th century, lasted 125 years and is also thought to have been caused by volcanic activity.
|
From Wikipedia:
Quote:
|
Major impact craters [that occured during the Jurassic period] include the Morokweng crater, a 70 km diameter crater buried beneath the Kalahari desert in northern South Africa. The impact is dated to the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, around 145 Ma. The Morokweng crater has been suggested to have had a role in the turnover at the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition.
|
What happens when a really big meteor strikes the Earth is that the Earth loses a substantial part of it atmosphere. Like the one 65 million years ago, before which the air at sea level was twice as dense as today and contained 30% oxygen; after the impact it was less than 1 Bar and just 15% oxygen. This does not only kill off all species that came to depend on the higher pressurized oxygen rich air, but also removes much of the greenhouse gases and mechanism, lowering the temperature substantially over time.
Some scientists have wondered how the giant pterodactyls and insects of the past could fly at all; they would not be able to in current conditions. Dense air and high oxygen levels change everything though.
We may need to cool the Earth but we should be careful if that involves creating craters of 70 km diameter.
__________________
2011 Honda Insight + HID, LEDs, tiny PV panel, extra brake pad return springs, neutral wheel alignment, 44/42 PSI (air), PHEV light (inop), tightened wheel nut.
lifetime FE over 0.2 Gmeter or 0.13 Mmile.
For confirmation go to people just like you.
For education go to people unlike yourself.