| The world used to be warmer than it is. The | | | | Poles. The Sea Level dropped. |
| poles were warm. About 55 million years ago | | | | In the Arctic there are a lot of fossils of Azolla. |
| Azolla was growing in the Arctic regions. It | | | | There are also gigantic reserves of usable energy. |
| certainly grew in the numerous fresh water lakes | | | | This may be in the form of oil or coal. There are |
| and rivers. It may even have grown in the Arctic | | | | certainly huge amounts of Methane Hydrates. By |
| Ocean itself. At that time the Arctic Ocean was | | | | huge, I mean in the order of trillions of tons. This |
| almost completely enclosed by land. It may have | | | | is a mineral made up of water and methane. The |
| formed layers with fresh water on top. As the | | | | methane can be released by heating. Methane is |
| Azolla plants died they would have sunk and not | | | | 'Natural Gas' which can be used. So far, economic |
| decayed because the lower layers of this Ocean | | | | methods of releasing this methane on a very |
| were both very salty and lacking in Oxygen. This | | | | large scale have not been developed. This does |
| locked up gigantic amounts of Carbon and the | | | | not mean it is impossible, far from it, and people |
| Carbon Dioxide level in the atmosphere dropped | | | | are experimenting to find ways of using the |
| from 3500 Parts per Million to about 650; the | | | | methane hydrates. |
| world got much colder. Ice caps formed at both | | | | Could The Azolla Event Happen In Reverse? |