Around 370 million years ago, Earth gradually descended into the longest lived and probably the most intense ice age witnessed by complex life: the Late Palaeozoic ice age. At its peak, huge continental ice sheets spread across much of the globe and the sea level fell by more than 100 metres. In all, this ice age lasted around 100 million years.

The transition in and out of the Late Palaeozoic ice age was one of the biggest climate transitions in Earth’s history, a turning point in the evolution of life and environment. It significantly shaped the two periods of time that made up the end of the Palaeozoic era.

First, it led to the creation of iconic “coal forests” full of giant insects in the Carboniferous period during the ice age. It also paved the way for the rise of reptiles in the Permian period that followed.

I lead an international team of scientists who have just published research demonstrating, for the first time, that carbon dioxide (CO₂) played a central role in this huge climatic transition.

The........

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