(12.) CALIFORNIA NEANDERTHAL. (SubmarineArchaeologyTimes.blogspot.com)

DURING EXTREME 'SNOWBALL EARTH' ICE AGES, WERE OUR OCEANS AND SEAS REDUCED TO WADING POOLS? There is mounting geological evidence that during Earth's 4-5 billion year history the greater portions of our oceans and seas were periodically deposited onto land in the form of unfathomable ice sheets and glaciers called Snowball Earth. Those severe global climates often lasted several million years. Especially during the Neoproterozoic Era of one billion to 500 million years BP. Along the bottom of the above image are three different interpretations of how our planet might have appeared during a Snowball Earth episode. Even at the height of Earth's most recent (average size) ice age of 110K to 10K years BP, the breadth and thickness of ice sheets and glaciers paled in comparison to those of a typical Snowball Earth spell. During those long, frigid, Snowball Earth times --- and the climate warming that invariably followed --- conditions may have been amenable for the natural erosion of expansive (meltwater) river canyons. I.e., when the landlocked ice sheets and glaciers had for the most part finally dissolved, the ocean basins would again be filled with liquid water. As such, the oceans themselves would conceal any new river channels that had been sculpted far out upon the continental shelves and ocean plates when the seafloors were exposed during the extreme ice age period. Could a severe ice age of much more recent geologic times be the ultimate origin of the immense Monterey Canyon trench system extending far off California shores today? (NOTE: The ENTIRE article describing the history making Monterey Canyon Neanderthal discovery can be read or downloaded via the LINK at the Profile page herein. All photos and captions in this Library were excerpted from the original American Neanderthal report at SUBMARINE ARCHAEOLOGY TIMES.)