ESS101C
Prof.
Jin-Yi Yu
Climate Changes in the Last 500 Myr
qClimate in the past 500 million years have
alternated between long periods of warm climate and short periods of cold climate.
qDuring the last 500 million years, major
continent-size ice sheets existed on Earth during three
icehouse ear: (1) a brief interval near 430 Myr ago, (2) a much longer interval from 325
to 240 Myr ago, and (3) the current icehouse era of the last 35 million year.
(from Earth’s Climate: Past and Future)