COSMIC dust could be responsible for some of the cold snaps in our planet’s climate.
Geologist Lars Franzén of Gothenburg University in Sweden studied dust deposited in 20 peat bogs throughout Europe. Peaks in the levels of cosmic dust coincided with cold spells on Earth. This included the “Younger Dryas” cold snap some 12,000 years ago and Europe’s little ice age in 1700, Franzén told a catastrophes conference in London earlier this month.
He suggests that regions of space where cosmic dust is especially dense may shield the planet from sunlight, driving temperatures down.
