Geologically Generated Ice Cycles And Climate-Related Phenomena

The term “Ice Age” implies that covering Earth’s surface with ice and then melting it is a single event.

As explained below, this process is not a single event but rather a reoccurring cycle that has three distinct phases: Ice Melt/End Phase, Ice Increase/Recovery Phase, and Normal Ice Extent/Stable Phase.

Ice Melt/End Phase

Approximately every 100,000 years, the Earth’s glaciers and seas reach their maximum extent. Suddenly and within 5,000 years nearly all the ice melts. I term this the Ice Melt Phase.

So, what causes this rapid melting of the ice? It is a geologically induced pulse of heat and gas emitted from all of Earth’s geological features. A more detailed explanation of the Ice Melt Phase follows.

In 1941 Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch discovered that every 100,000 years, the Earth’s orbit around the sun, tilt angle of its axis, and wobble-type movement around the axis changes. Scientists called this process a Milankovitch Cycle.

Milankovitch concluded that these astronomical changes affected Earth’s long-term climate. Others have shown that these astronomical changes also act to greatly increase the gravitational stress on Earth.

In my opinion, this stress activates all of Earth’s geological features, most importantly the 50,000-mile-long interconnected network of deep ocean-floor fault zones (Figure 1). These fault zones form the boundary between continents and large segments of ocean-floor rock layers.

When active they have the power to move the continents and ocean floor segments 1-2 inches per year. When the increased stress occurs the movement of the faults increases which acts to fracture and open them.

The open faults provide an open pathway to deep earth’s extremely high-pressure pockets of molten lava. This pressurized lava very rapidly rises along the open faults to the ocean floor. Here they expulse their heat and gases into the base of the ocean water column which then rises into the atmosphere.

The increase of ocean-floor geological activity acts to release a greater amount of methane by several means.

• The opened fault zones tap into accumulations of methane-rich rock layers and open pockets of methane. These types of methane-rich rock layers are what oil and gas companies hope to locate. Interestingly it turns out that the public refers to methane gas as natural gas and the gas has been deemed by several countries as ‘green’.
• Deep earth fault zones contain vertical, icy, methane-rich rock layers. These types of rock layers are also present in horizontal layers adjacent to the faults. Geological heating of the faults acts to melt the ice and release its methane.
• Our oceans contain a certain amount of methane and when heated the ocean waters release the methane. An example of this is when water gets heated in a pan, it begins to release a gaseous fluid, aka steam, into the air. All this methane rises into the atmosphere.

The increase of ocean-floor geological activity acts to release a greater amount of CO2 by several means.

• The opened fault zones tap into gas accumulations of gaseous, CO2-rich rock layers.
• Our oceans contain a certain amount of CO2. When heated the ocean waters release CO2 into the ocean column and ultimately into the atmosphere.
• Deep earth fault zones contain vertical, icy, CO2-rich rock layers. These types of rock layers are also present in horizontal layers adjacent to the faults. Geological heating of the faults acts to melt the ice and release CO2 into the ocean column.

Ice Increase/Recovery Phase

The Ice Increase Phase begins when the Milankovitch Cycle-induced increase of gravitational stress suddenly ends. This greatly decreases geological activity.

This Phase lasts 45,000 years which is 45% of the 100,000 years. The amount of methane, CO2, and heat emitted into the ocean and atmosphere also greatly diminish due to the decrease in geological activity.

The concentration of atmospheric methane, concentration of atmospheric CO2, and value of atmospheric temperature during the Recovery Phase have been calculated utilizing various proxy procedures from the Antarctic Vostok Ice Core. The resulting data is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.

The data shows that in a broad sense, the value of the three atmospheric parameters diminishes in coincidence with one another. However, reviewing the details of this general overall decrease it becomes apparent that there are short times of numerous increases and decreases of atmospheric methane, CO2, and temperature.

For instance, during the Ice Increase Phase, the short-term rate increase and decrease between atmospheric methane and atmospheric temperature closely track each other.

When temperature decreases or increases at a certain rate the rate of methane decreases or increases at the same rate (Figure 3). However, this is not the case with the short time increases or decreases of atmospheric CO2 to atmospheric temperature.

In this case, the rate of decrease or increase of CO2 doesn’t always track the rate of decrease or increase of temperature (Figure 2). Climate scientists have nicknamed this separation of CO2 and temperature the “CO2 Lag“.

There is great debate whether the “CO2 Lag” proves that atmospheric CO2 influences temperature or that atmospheric temperature influences CO2.

I believe that the time disparity between the rate decrease of atmospheric CO2 and the rate decrease in atmospheric temperature is the result of the dynamics of how methane, CO2, and temperature are released into the ocean.

Factors include:

• Lateral variation of ocean column temperatures and pressure.
• Distribution, extent, and thickness of ocean floor rock layers that contain CO2 or pools of liquid CO2.
• Differing expulsion rates of ocean CO2 versus ocean temperature and pressure.

Normal Ice Extent/Stable Phase

The Normal Ice Phase begins when the Ice Increase Phase ends. This Phase lasts 55,000 years which is 55% of the 100,000 years. I contend that this phase is the Earth’s normal state.

The amount of atmospheric methane, amount of atmospheric CO2, and atmospheric temperature do not significantly change during the Normal Ice Phase especially when compared to the Ice Increase Phase.

Summary of Ice Cycles

Astronomically induced changes in geological activity act to generate Ice Cycles. One cycle lasts approximately 100,000 years. The influence of geological activity that plays in generating and maintaining each phase of an Ice Cycle has been significantly underestimated. Hopefully, this article will prompt those researching the so-called Ice Ages to consider this new interpretation.

Biography

James Edward Kamis is a retired geologist with 46 years of experience, a BS in Geology from Northern Illinois University (1973), and an MS degree in Geology from Idaho State University (1976). More than 46 years of research have convinced him that geological forces significantly influence, or in some cases completely control climate and climate-related events as per his Plate Climatology Theory. Kamis’ new book, Geological Impacts on Climate, is available now.

Note from the Author

This article has focused on describing geological aspects of worldwide changes in ice extent. There are large changes in climate and climate-related phenomena associated with the Ice Cycle process. Others have described these changes in greater detail. Refer to their research. However, keep an open mind concerning the root cause of these changes because some changes in climate dynamics may be side effects of geological forces.