The Late Paleozoic Ice Age
The longest and most severe icehouse of the last 500 million years — caused, ultimately, by trees.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 61 million years
- Known to
- ± 5 million years
- Era
- Devonian, Paleozoic
Ice sheets grip Gondwana from the latest Devonian into the Permian, in a series of discrete glacial episodes rather than one continuous freeze; Australian records suggest as many as fifty-one separate advances. It is the most widespread icehouse interval of the Phanerozoic. The cause traces back to the Devonian forests: rooted plants weathering rock and burying carbon dragged carbon dioxide down far enough to freeze the poles.