The release of underwater gas deposits has played its part in previous periods of the Earth's history, as noted, during the Permian extinction of 251 million years ago. With a global increase of 6 degrees, the 'super hurricanes' raised by warming oceans, 20 metres raised, triggered floods that nothing could survive.

Amongst the evidence of former water activity on Mars, there are geological features which describe floods of enormous proportions, far exceeding anything so far seen on this Earth.
One of these features is the channel of Ma'adim Valles, one of Mars' major canyons, which opens into Gusev crater, a 160 kilometer wide basin in the cratered uplands of the southern hemisphere, where the rover 'Spirit' found evidence of water. It is believed that a large lake in the southern highlands of Mars overflowed about 3.5 billion years ago, at the beginning of the Siderikan era and the end of volcanism during the Theikian, gouging out the canyon as the torrent headed north and then spilled into the crater, forming a new lake.