The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age, occurring in the Pleistocene epoch. It began about 110,000 years ago and ended between 10,000 and 15,000 BP. During this period there were several changes between glacier advance and retreat. The maximum extent of glaciation was approximately 18,000 years ago. While the general pattern of global cooling and glacier advance was similar, local differences in the development of glacier advance and retreat make it difficult to compare the details from continent to continent (see picture of ice core data below for differences). Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) on the geologic timescale is the period from 1,808,000 to 11,550 years BP. The Pleistocene epoch had been intended to cover the worlds recent period of repeated glaciations. ... Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ... Temperature proxies for the last 40,000 years The Last Glacial Maximum refers to the time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glaciation, approximately 21 thousand years ago. ... A glaciation (a created composite term meaning Glacial Period, referring to the Period or Era of, as well as the process of High Glacial Activity), often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ...

The last glacial period is sometimes colloquially referred to as the last ice age, though this use is incorrect because an ice age is a longer period of cold temperature in which ice sheets cover large parts of the Earth. Glacials, on the other hand, refer to colder phases within an ice age that separate interglacials. Thus, the end of the last glacial period is not the end of the last ice age. The end of the last glacial period was about 12,500 years ago, while the end of the last ice age has not yet come: little evidence points to a stop of the glacial-interglacial cycle of the last million years. Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²).[1] The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much... Glaciation, often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ...

The last glacial period is the best-known part of the current ice age, and has been intensively studied in North America, northern Eurasia, the Himalaya and other formerly glaciated regions around the world. The glaciations that occurred during this glacial period covered many areas, mainly on the Northern Hemisphere and - to a lesser extent - on the Southern Hemisphere. They have different names, historically developed and depending on their geographic distributions: Fraser, Pinedale, Wisconsin (in North America), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland), Würm (in the Alps), Weichsel (or Vistula, in northern Central Europe), Valdai in Eastern Europe and Zyryanka in Siberia, Llanquihue in Chile and Otira in New Zealand. Northern hemisphere highlighted in yellow. ... southern hemisphere highlighted in yellow (Antarctica not depicted). ... North American redirects here. ... This article explains the archipelago in north-western Europe. ... Alp redirects here. ... Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... Eastern Europe is a concept that lacks one precise definition. ... This article is about Siberia as a whole. ...

Overview

Vegetation types at time of last glacial maximum.

Last glacial period, as seen in ice core data from Antarctica and Greenland

The last glaciation centered on the huge ice sheets of North America and Eurasia. Considerable areas in the Alps, the Himalaya and the Andes were ice-covered, and Antarctica remained glaciated. Last Glacial Maximum Vegetation Reconstructed vegetation cover at the Last Glacial Maximum period ~18,000 years ago, describing the type of vegetation cover present, based on fossil pollen samples recovered from lake and bog sediments. ... Last Glacial Maximum Vegetation Reconstructed vegetation cover at the Last Glacial Maximum period ~18,000 years ago, describing the type of vegetation cover present, based on fossil pollen samples recovered from lake and bog sediments. ... Temperature proxies for the last 40,000 years The Last Glacial Maximum refers to the time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glaciation, approximately 21 thousand years ago. ... Ice Core sample taken from drill. ...

Canada was nearly completely covered by ice, as well as the northern part of the USA, both blanketed by the huge Laurentide ice sheet. Alaska remained mostly ice free due to arid climate conditions. Local glaciations existed in the Rocky Mountains, the Cordilleran ice sheet and as ice fields and ice caps in the Sierra Nevada in northern California.^[1] In Britain, mainland Europe and northwestern Asia, the Scandinavian ice sheet once again reached the northern parts of the British Isles, Germany, Poland and Russia, extending as far east as the Taimyr Peninsula in western Siberia.^[2] Maximum extent of western Siberian glaciation was approximately 18,000 to 17,000 BP and thus later than in Europe (22,000 - 18,000 BP).^[3] Northeastern Siberia was not covered by ice.^[4] The Arctic Ocean between the huge ice sheets of America and Eurasia was not frozen throughout, but like today probably was only covered by relatively thin ice, subject to seasonal changes and riddled with icebergs calving from the surrounding ice sheets. According to the sediment composition retrieved from deep-sea cores there must even have been times of seasonally open waters.^[5] The Laurentide ice sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States, between ~ 90,000 and ~ 18,000 years before the present day. ... In general terms, the climate of a locale or region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. ... For individual mountains named Rocky Mountain, see Rocky Mountain (disambiguation). ... The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major ice sheet that covered, during glacial periods of the Quaternary, a large area of North America. ... An ice field (also called an icefield) is a flat land area (or a basin surrounded by mountains) covered by ice, usually formed by long periods of snow. ... An ice cap is a dome-shaped ice mass that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area (usually covering a highland area). ... Sierra Nevada, meaning snowy range in Spanish, is the name of at least three mountain ranges: Sierra Nevada (Spain) in Andalusia, Spain Sierra Nevada (US) in California and Nevada, United States Sierra Nevada (Mexico) in Mexico There are also two single mountains named Sierra Nevada in the Andes which are... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... Taimyr or Taymyr (Russian: Таймы́р) may mean: a peninsula in Siberia that forms the most northern part of mainland Asia, see Taimyr Peninsula a river in the Taimyr Peninsula, see Taimyr River a lake from which the Taimyr River flows, see Lake Taimyr This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... For other uses, see Iceberg (disambiguation). ... CORE may refer to: The Congress of Racial Equality in the USA. The Coordinated Online Register of Electors in the United Kingdom. ...

Outside the main ice sheets widespread glaciation occurred on the Alps - Himalaya mountain chain. In contrast to the earlier glacial stages the Würm glaciation was composed of smaller ice caps and mostly confined to valley glaciers, sending glacial lobes into the Alpine forland. To the east the Caucasus and the mountains of Turkey and Iran were capped by local ice fields or small ice sheets.^[6],[7] In the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau glaciers advanced considerably, particularly between 47,000-27,000 BP^[8] and in contrast to the widespread contemporaneous warming elsewhere.^[9] The formation of a contiguous ice sheet on the Tibetan Plateau is controversial.^[10] Alp redirects here. ... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Sichuan Province of China lie on the Tibetan Plateau. ...

Other areas of the Northern Hemisphere did not bear extensive ice sheets but local glaciers in high areas. Parts of Taiwan for example were repeatedly glaciated between 44,250 and 10,680 BP^[11] as well as the Japanese Alps. In both areas maximum glacier advance occurred between 60,000 and 30,000 BP.^[12] To a still lesser extent glaciers did exist in Africa, for example in the High Atlas, the Mountains of Morocco, the Mount Atakor massif in southern Algeria and several mountains in Ethiopia. Already on the Southern Hemisphere, an ice cap of several hundred square kilometers was present on the east African mountains in the Kilimandjaro Massif, Mount Kenya and the Ruwenzori Mountains, still bearing remnants of glaciers today.^[13] Shirouma peaks (Hida Mountains) Tateyama peaks (Hida Mountains) Lake Hakuba The Kiso Mountains between Nagoya and Naoetsu The Japanese Alps is a mountain range in Japan that bisects the main island of Honshu. ... Village in the high atlas High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas Mountains (or Haut Atlas), is a mountain range in central Morocco. ... For other uses, see Kilimanjaro (disambiguation). ... Mount Kenya has a low profile typical of a shield volcano. ... The Ruwenzori Range is a small mountain range of central Africa, often referred to as Mt. ...

Glaciation of the Southern Hemisphere was less extensive because of current continent configuration. Ice sheets existed in the Andes (Patagonian Ice Sheet), where six glacier advances between 33,500 and 13,900 BP in the Chilean Andes have been reported.^[14] Antarctica was entirely glaciated, much like today, but the ice sheet left no uncovered area. In mainland Australia only a very small area in the vicinity of Mount Kosciuszko was glaciated, whereas Tasmania glaciation was more widespread.^[15] New Zealand saw a glaciation in the New Zealand Alps, where at least three glacier advances can be distinguished.^[16] Local ice caps existed in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, where in three ice areas remnants of the Pleistocene glaciers are still preserved today.^[17] An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²).[1] The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much... The Patagonian Ice Sheet was a large ice sheet that covered all of Chile south of approximately present-day Puerto Montt during the Last Glacial Maximum. ... Location in New South Wales Mount Kosciuszko, located in the Snowy Mountains, in Kosciuszko National Park, is the highest mountain in Australia (not including its external territories), at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. ... Slogan or Nickname: Island of Inspiration; The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Motto(s): Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Constitutional monarchy Governor William Cox Premier Paul Lennon (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 5  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product... Map showing Papua province in Indonesia Papua is a province of Indonesia comprising part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. ...

Named local glaciations

Pinedale or Fraser glaciation, in the Rocky Mountains

The Pinedale (central Rocky Mountains) or Fraser (Cordilleran ice sheet) glaciation was the last of the major ice ages to appear in the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The Pinedale lasted from approximately 30,000 to 10,000 years ago and was at its greatest extent between 23,500 and 21,000 years ago. ^[18] This glaciation was somewhat distinct from the main Wisconsin glaciation as it was only loosely related to the giant ice sheets and was instead composed of mountain glaciers, merging into the Cordilleran Ice Sheet.^[19] The Cordilleran ice sheet produced features such as glacial Lake Missoula, which would break free from its ice dam causing the massive Missoula floods. Geologists estimate that the cycle of flooding and reformation of the lake lasted on average of 55 years and that the floods occurred approximately 40 times over the 2,000 year period between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago.^[20] Glacial lake outburst floods such as these are not uncommon today in Iceland and other places. Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... For individual mountains named Rocky Mountain, see Rocky Mountain (disambiguation). ... The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major ice sheet that covered, during glacial periods of the Quaternary, a large area of North America. ... Glacial Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. ... Glacial Lake Columbia (west) and Glacial Lake Missoula (east) are shown south of Cordilleran Ice Sheet. ... Hubbard Glacier, Alaska squeezes towards Gibert Point on May 20, 2002. ...

Wisconsin glaciation, in North America

The Wisconsin Glacial Episode was the last major advance of continental glaciers in the North American Laurentide ice sheet. This glaciation is made of three glacial maxima (commonly called ice ages) separated by interglacial periods (such as the one we are living in). These ice ages are called, from oldest to youngest, Tahoe, Tenaya and Tioga. The Tahoe reached its maximum extent perhaps about 70,000 years ago, perhaps as a byproduct of the Toba super eruption. Little is known about the Tenaya. The Tioga was the least severe and last of the Wisconsin Episode. It began about 30,000 years ago, reached its greatest advance 20,000 years ago, and ended about 10,000 years ago. At the height of glaciation the Bering land bridge permitted migration of mammals such as humans to North America from Siberia. Austrias longest glacier, the Pasterze, winds its 8 km (5 mile) route at the foot of Austrias highest mountain, the Grossglockner A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. ... The Laurentide ice sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States, between ~ 90,000 and ~ 18,000 years before the present day. ... A glaciation (a created composite term meaning Glacial Period, referring to the Period or Era of, as well as the process of High Glacial Activity), often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... Glaciation, often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... Lake Toba (Indonesian: Danau Toba) is a lake, 100 km long and 30 km wide, and 505 m. ... Nautical chart of Bering Strait, site of former land bridge between Asia and North America The Bering land bridge, also known as Beringia, was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) north to south at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at...

It radically altered the geography of North America north of the Ohio River. At the height of the Wisconsin Episode glaciation, ice covered most of Canada, the Upper Midwest, and New England, as well as parts of Montana and Washington. On Kelleys Island in Lake Erie or in New York's Central Park, the grooves left by these glaciers can be easily observed. In southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta a suture zone between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets formed the Cypress Hills, which is the northernmost point in North America that remained south of the continental ice sheets. View of Pittsburgh, the largest metropolitan area on the Ohio River, where the Allegheny River (left) and the Monongahela River (right) join at Point State Park to form the Ohio River Cincinnati, Ohio is a well known city along the Ohio River, historically known for its riverboats. ... The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... For the capital city of the United States, see Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). ... Kelleys Island is both a village located in Erie County, Ohio and the island which it fully occupies in Lake Erie. ... Lake Erie (pronounced ) is the tenth largest lake on Earth[2] and, of the five Great Lakes of North America, is the fourth largest by surface area, the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume. ... Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres, 3. ... Glacial grooves caused by the Wisconsin glaciation at Kelleys Island, Ohio Glacial striations or glacial grooves are gouges or grooves cut into the bedrock by glacial ice and meltwater as it slowly ground its way along during one of the Earths Ice Ages or by mountain glaciers. ... The Laurentide ice sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States, between ~ 90,000 and ~ 18,000 years before the present day. ... The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major ice sheet that covered, during glacial periods of the Quaternary, a large area of North America. ... An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²).[1] The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much... The Cypress Hills are a region of hills in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, Canada. ...

The Great Lakes are the result of glacial scour and pooling of meltwater at the rim of the receding ice. When the enormous mass of the continental ice sheet retreated, the Great Lakes began gradually moving south due to isostatic rebound of the north shore. Niagara Falls is also a product of the glaciation, as is the course of the Ohio River, which largely supplanted the prior Teays River. The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ... For other uses, see Niagara Falls (disambiguation). ... Teays River network, blue lines are rivers, as it existed prior to disruption by glaciers. ...

With the assistance of several very large glacial lakes, it carved the gorge now known as the Upper Mississippi River, filling into the Driftless Area and probably creating an annual ice-dam-burst. A gorge is a narrow passage between steep mountains or hills. ... See also: Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of Cairo, Illinois. ... The Driftless Area is an area of about 20,000 square miles in southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa which was by_passed by the continental glaciers. ...

In its retreat, the Wisconsin Episode glaciation left terminal moraines that form Long Island, Nantucket and Cape Cod, and the Oak Ridges Moraine in south central Ontario, Canada. In Wisconsin itself, it left the Kettle Moraine. The drumlins and eskers formed at its melting edge are landmarks of the Lower Connecticut River Valley. This article is about geological phenomena. ... This article is about the island in New York State. ... Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, formed of glacial moraine. ... This article is about the area of Massachusetts known as Cape Cod. For other uses, see Cape Cod (disambiguation). ... The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically sensitive geological landform in south central Ontario, Canada. ... Kettle Moraine is a large moraine in the state of Wisconsin stretching from Walworth County in the south to Kewaunee County in the north. ... Drumlin in Cato, New York Drowned drumlin in Clew Bay Drumlin at Withrow Moraine and Jameson Lake Drumlin Field National Natural Landmark A drumlin (Irish droimnín, a little hill ridge) is an elongated whale-shaped hill formed by glacial action. ... A part of the Mason Esker Esker in Sims Corner Eskers and Kames National Natural Landmark, Washington state. ... The Connecticut River Valley is a long river valley formed by the Connecticut River stretching from The New Hampshire/Quebec border to Long Island Sound on the Connecticut Coast. ...

Greenland glaciation

In Northwest Greenland, ice coverage attained a very early maximum in the last glacial period around 114,000. After this early maximum, the ice coverage was similar to today until the end of the last glacial period. Towards the end glaciers readvanced once more before retreating to their present extent.^[21] According to ice core data, the Greenland climate was dry during the last glacial period, precipitation reaching perhaps only 20% of today's value. ^[22]

Devensian glaciation, in the British Isles

The name Devensian glaciation is used by British geologists and archaeologists and refers to what is often popularly meant by the latest Ice Age. The Geologist by Carl Spitzweg A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth and planets of the solar system (see planetary geology). ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ...

The effects of the this glaciation can be seen in many geological features of England, Scotland and northern Ireland. Its deposits have been found overlying material from the preceding Ipswichian interglacial and lying beneath those from the following Flandrian stage of the Holocene. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... The Ipswichian interglacial is a name for an interglacial period which occurred between 150,000 and 115,000 years ago. ... The Flandrian interglacial or stage is the name given by geologists and archaeologists in the British Isles to the first, and so far only, stage of the Holocene, covering the period from around 10,000 years ago when the last ice age ended to the present day. ... The Holocene epoch is a geological period, which began approximately 11,550 calendar years BP (about 9600 BC) and continues to the present. ...

The latter part of the Devensian includes Pollen zones I-IV, the Allerød and Bølling Oscillations and the Older and Younger Dryas climatic stages. Helianthus annuus pollen Pollen zones are a system of subdividing late Pleistocene and early Holocene paleoclimate using the data from pollen cores. ... The Allerød period is a part of a temperature oscillation towards the end of the last Ice Age in Europe, where temperatures in the Northern Atlantic region rose from glacial to almost present day level in the Bølling and Allerød periods and returned to glacial levels in... The Bølling Oscillation was a brief warm period that occurred during the final stages of the last glaciation of Europe. ... The Older Dryas was a somewhat variable cold, dry Blytt-Sernander period of North Europe, roughly equivalent to Pollen zone 1c. ... Three temperature records, the GRIP one clearly showing the Younger Dryas event at around 11 kyr BP The Younger Dryas stadial, named after the alpine / tundra wildflower Dryas octopetala, and also referred to as the Big Freeze [1], was a brief (approximately 1300 ± 70 years [1]) cold climate period following...

Weichsel glaciation, in Scandinavia and northern Europe

During the glacial maximum in Scandinavia, only the western parts of Jutland were ice-free, and a large part of what is today the North Sea was dry land connecting Jutland with Britain. It is also in Denmark that the only Scandinavian ice-age animals older than 13,000 BC are found. In the period following the last interglacial before the current one (Eemian interglacial era), the coast of Norway was also ice-free. Temperature proxies for the last 40,000 years The Last Glacial Maximum refers to the time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glaciation, approximately 21 thousand years ago. ... Jutland Peninsula Jutland (Danish: Jylland; German: Jütland; Frisian Jutlân; Low German Jötlann) is the western, continental part of Denmark as well as one of the three historical Lands of Denmark, dividing the North Sea from the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... Glaciation, often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... The Eemian interglacial era (Sangamon era in North America) is the second-to-latest interglacial era of the Ice age. ...

The Baltic Sea, with its unique brackish water, is a result of meltwater from the Weichsel glaciation combining with saltwater from the North Sea when the straits between Sweden and Denmark opened. Initially, when the ice began melting about 10,300 ybp, seawater filled the isostatically depressed area, a temporary marine incursion that geologists dub the Yoldia Sea. Then, as post-glacial isostatic rebound lifted the region about 9500 ybp, the deepest basin of the Baltic became a freshwater lake, in palaeological contexts referred to as Ancylus Lake, which is identifiable in the freshwater fauna found in sediment cores. The lake was filled by glacial runoff, but as worldwide sea level continued rising, saltwater again breached the sill about 8000 ybp, forming a marine Littorina Sea which was followed by another freshwater phase before the present brackish marine system was established. "At its present state of development, the marine life of the Baltic Sea is less than about 4000 years old," Drs. Thulin and Andrushaitis remarked when reviewing these sequences in 2003. For other uses, see Baltic (disambiguation). ... Brackish redirects here. ... Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950 (identical to 1950 CE). ... Isostasy is a term used in Geology to refer to the state of ice above stasy and is angravitational equilibrium between the Earths lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates float at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density. ... For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ... Yoldia sea is a name given by geologists to a variable brackish-water stage in the Baltic sea basin that prevailed after draining of Baltic ice lake had reduced the lake level to then sea level. ... Changes in the elevation of Lake Superior due to glaciation and post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (sometimes called continental rebound, isostatic rebound or isostatic adjustment) is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last ice age, through a process... Ancylus lake is a name given by geologists to the body of fresh water that replaced the Yoldia sea after the latter had been severed from its saline intake across central Sweden by the isostatic rise of south Scandinavian landforms. ... The Wisconsin (in North America), Weichsel (in Scandinavia), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland) or Würm glaciation (in the Alps) is the most recent period of the Ice Age, and ended some 10,000 BC. The Wisconsin/Weichsel/Devensian/Midlandian/Würm glaciation began about 70,000...

Overlaying ice had exerted pressure on the Earth's surface. As a result of melting ice, the land has continued to rise yearly in Scandinavia, mostly in northern Sweden and Finland where the land is rising at a rate of as much as 8–9 mm per year, or 1 meter in 100 years. This is important for archaeologists since a site that was coastal in the Nordic Stone Age now is inland. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The Nordic Stone Age refers to the Stone Age of Scandinavia. ...

Würm glaciation, in the Alps

The term Würm is derived from a river in the Alpine foreland, approximately marking the maximum glacier advance of this particular glacial period. The Alps have been the area where first systematic scientific research on ice ages has been conducted by Louis Agassiz in the beginning of the 19th century. Here the Würm glaciation of the last glacial period was intensively studied. Pollen analysis, the statistical analyses of microfossilized plant pollens found in geological deposits, has chronicled the dramatic changes in the European environment during the Würm glaciation. During the height of Würm glaciation, ca 24,000–10,000 ybp, most of western and central Europe and Eurasia was open steppe-tundra, while the Alps presented solid ice fields and montane glaciers. Scandinavia and much of Britain were under ice. For the glaciaton, go here The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany. ... Louis Agassiz After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Stanford President David Starr Jordan wrote, Somebody—Dr. Angell, perhaps—remarked that Agassiz was great in the abstract but not in the concrete. ... Pollen under microscope Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter (POM) and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments. ... For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation) Fossils are the mineralized remains of animals or plants or other artifacts such as footprints. ... An ice field (also called an icefield) is a flat land area (or a basin surrounded by mountains) covered by ice, usually formed by long periods of snow. ...

During the Würm, the Rhône Glacier covered the whole western Swiss plateau, reaching today's regions of Solothurn and Aarau. In the region of Bern it merged with the Aar glacier. The Rhine glacier is currently the subject of the most detailed studies. Glaciers of the Reuss and the Limmat advanced sometimes as far as the Jura. Montane and piedmont glaciers formed the land by grinding away virtually all traces of the older Günz and Mindel glaciation, by depositing base moraines and terminal moraines of different retraction phases and loess deposits, and by the pro-glacial rivers' shifting and redepositing gravels. Beneath the surface, they had profound and lasting influence on geothermal heat and the patterns of deep groundwater flow. Johann Heinrich Wüest: Der Rhonegletscher, c. ... For other uses, see Rhine (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. ...

Antarctica glaciation

Modelled maximum extent of the Antarctic ice sheet 21,000 years before present

During the last glacial period Antarctica was blanketed by a massive ice sheet, much like it is today. The ice covered all land areas and probably extended into the ocean. According to ice modelling, ice over central East Antarctica was generally thinner than today.^[23]

References

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

Further reading

• Geology of National Parks: Fifth Edition, Ann G. Harris, Esther Tuttle, Sherwood D. Tuttle (Iowa, Kendall/Hunt Publishing; 1997) ISBN 0-7872-5353-7
• E. C. Pielou 1991. After the Ice Age : The Return of Life to Glaciated North America (University Of Chicago Press) ISBN 0-226-66812-6 (paperback 1992)

See also

• Glacial history of Minnesota
• Timeline of glaciation
• Valparaiso Moraine

Northern Hemisphere glaciation during the last ice ages. ... There have been four major periods of glaciation in the Earths past. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ice age 72k-12k BP

• National Atlas of the USA: Wisconsin Glaciation in North America: Present state of knowledge