"Snowball Earth" During the Neoproterozoic

A hypothesis of snowball Earth has been presented to explain phenomena related to the Neoproterozoic glaciations, such as the low-latitude and low-altitude glacial deposits, cap carbonates, negative δ~(13)C shifts, BIF, and others. Even though there are several hypotheses or theories to discuss the Neoproterozoic glacial events, the snowball Earth hypothesis is still popular and predominant. The events of snowball Earth have been considered to initiate from changes in Earth's system, such as the break-up of Rodinia supercontinent, activity of superplume, and paleomagnetic TPW. The extreme climate arisen from snowball Earth may promote evolution of life and trigger the Cambrian Explosion.