Glaciers once inched toward the sea, gouging rocks. When the ice masses melted, they infused oceans with nutrients that may have shaped how life evolved, a study found.

Imagine floating in space, gazing on a frozen white orb. The ball hangs in the void, lonely and gleaming in the light from its star. From pole to equator, the sphere is covered in a thick crust of ice.

Around 700 million years ago, Earth was a very different planet—gripped by extreme deep freezes during the Cryogenian period. Enormous glaciers, kilometers thick, stretched across vast regions, turning much of the planet into a frozen wasteland.

Glaciers once inched toward the sea, gouging rocks. When the ice masses melted, they infused oceans with nutrients that may have shaped how life evolved, a study found.

New Curtin University research has revealed how massive ancient glaciers acted like giant bulldozers, reshaping Earth's surface and paving the way for complex life to flourish.

During the Cryogenian, our planet was plunged into a series of deep freezes when enormous glaciers flowed across the globe. In new research published in Geology, we show that these crushing rivers of ice,