After the Ice age
Geological ice ages -- called glacial periods -- are characterised by the development of large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. In the past 700,000 years, phases shifted between distinct glacial and warm periods about every 100,000 years. Before then, however, the Earth's climate was governed by 40,000-year cycles with shorter and weaker glacial periods. The change in the climate cycles occurred in the Middle Pleistocene Transition period, which began approximately 1.2 million years ago and ended about 670,000 years ago.
During this period glaciers were covering North America to where Missouri is today. The ice has been melting and the climate getting warmer for some time (those damn N.A. and their horses and buffalos that are incredibly environmentally destructive with the GHG emissions). But who knew....
|