![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081107220011im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) News From the Field Large Methane Release Could Cause Abrupt Climate Change, as Happened 635 Million Years Ago
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081107220011im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/greenlineshort.jpg)
May 28, 2008
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An abrupt release of methane about 635 million years ago from ice sheets caused a dramatic shift in climate, triggering a series of events that effectively ended the last "snowball" ice age, a study led by Martin Kennedy of the University of California, Riverside, reports. According to the study, methane clathrate destabilization acted as a runaway feedback to increased warming, and was the tipping point that ended the last snowball Earth.
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Source University of California - Riverside
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