Page "Snowball Earth" Paragraph 27

There are three or four significant ice ages during the late Neoproterozoic.

Of these, the Marinoan was the most significant, and the Sturtian glaciations were also truly widespread.

Even the leading Snowball proponent Hoffman agrees that the ~ million year long Gaskiers glaciation did not lead to global glaciation, although it was probably as intense as the late Ordovician glaciation.

The status of the Kaigas " glaciation " or " cooling event " is currently unclear ; some workers do not recognise it as a glacial, others suspect that it may reflect poorly dated strata of Sturtian association, and others believe it may indeed be a third ice age.

It was certainly less significant than the Sturtian or Marinoan glaciations, and probably not global in extent.

Emerging evidence suggests that the Earth underwent a number of glaciations during the Neoproterozoic, which would stand strongly at odds with the Snowball hypothesis.