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A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials , on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate between glacial periods.
Last Glacial Period, the most recent glacial period (115,000 to 11,700 years ago) Penultimate Glacial Period, the glacial period that occurred before the Last Glacial Period; Late Cenozoic Ice Age, the geologic period of the last 33.9 million years; Little Ice Age, a period of relative cold in certain regions from roughly 1450–1480
Areas of study within glaciology include glacial history and the reconstruction of past glaciation. A glaciologist is a person who studies glaciers. A glacial geologist studies glacial deposits and glacial erosive features on the landscape. Glaciology and glacial geology are key areas of polar research.
The Earth is currently in such an interglacial period of the Quaternary glaciation, with the Last Glacial Period of the Quaternary having ended approximately 11,700 years ago. The current interglacial is known as the Holocene epoch. [1] Based on climate proxies, paleoclimatologists study the different climate states originating from glaciation.
The Würm glaciation, shown in ice core data from the Antarctica and Greenland Moraines and gravel beds formed in the Würm glaciation near Leutkirch, Westallgäu, Germany, Zeil castle can be seen on the left. The corresponding ice age in North and Central Europe is known as the Weichselian glaciation, after the German name for the Vistula river.
The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing.
The Last Glacial Period caused a much lower global sea level. This glaciation radically altered the geography north of the Ohio River, creating the Great Lakes. At the height of the Wisconsin Episode glaciation, the ice sheet covered most of Canada, the Upper Midwest, and New England, as well as parts of Idaho, Montana, and Washington.
Estimate of Proterozoic glacial periods. [2] [1] Dating of pre-Gaskiers glaciations is uncertain. As for the Kaigas, its very existence is doubted by some. The Huronian glaciation is not shown; there is a lack of any significant evidence for a Snowball Earth during the time period.