Evidence indicates that the evolution of vascular tissue coi

Evidence indicates that the evolution of vascular tissue coincided with a five fold drop in atmospheric CO¬2 levels during the Carboniferous period, causing global cooling that resulted in widespread glacier formation. What is a possible explanation for this?

Solution

Ans. CO₂ is the most important greenhouse gas responsible for absorbing a fraction of solar radiation and converting it into heat. Thus, the gas keeps Earth’s atmosphere warm. Increase in atmospheric CO₂ is evidently responsible for global warming.

Carboniferous plants (bear vascular tissues) covered a large fraction of Earth surface during the geological time. Due to efficient photosynthesis, the converted more and more atmospheric CO₂ into carbohydrates (wood) as evident by the coal deposits of theta geological period. As a result, the atmospheric CO₂ concentration dropped a lot.

A drop in atmospheric CO₂ led to lesser greenhouse effect, that further led to global cooling.