A group of scientists from the UK in an article, published in the Nature Geoscience, reported, that the ancient plants caused a series of ice ages on Earth in the Ordovician (488 - 443 million years ago), which led to large-scale loss of plant and animal species. As reported the scientists, the first plants were collected from soil large amount of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron, over millions of years this process has led to the formation of new minerals, which react with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which significantly reduced the carbon dioxide in the air and reduce the impact of "greenhouse effect". As a result- over tens of millions of years, the temperature on Earth has been steadily declining rates of small, slowly creating the conditions for the emergence of a powerful first glacial period.