Related topics: climate change
Ice age
hideThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of extra cold climate are termed "glaciations". Glaciologically, ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in the northern and southern hemispheres; by this definition we are still in an ice age (because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist).
More colloquially, when speaking of the last few thousand years, "the" ice age refers to the most recent colder period (or freezing period) with extensive ice sheets over the North American and Eurasian continents: in this sense, the most recent ice age peaked, in its Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago. This article will use the term ice age in the former, glaciological, sense: glacials for colder periods during ice ages and interglacials for the warmer periods.
For more information about Ice age, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with ice age
'Super-river' formed the English Channel
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Anglo-French scientists studying sedimentary deposits in the Bay of Biscay have concluded that Britain and France were separated by a "super-river" during three periods of glaciations, ...
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As the World Churns
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 28, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (14) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "Terra firma." It's Latin for "solid Earth." Most of the time, at least from our perspective here on the ground, Earth seems to be just that: solid. Yet the Earth beneath our feet is actually ...
Climate change puts ecosystems on the run, researchers say
Dec 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Global warming is causing habitats to move across the landscape. Can the creatures living there keep up? If they can't, some species may die out, researchers say.
Exploring the Stone Age pantry
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 17, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
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The consumption of wild cereals among prehistoric hunters and gatherers appears to be far more ancient than previously thought, according to a University of Calgary archaeologist who has found the oldest example ...
Study shows loss of 15-42 percent of mammals in North America
Dec 17, 2009 |
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If the planet is headed for another mass extinction like the previous five, each of which wiped out more than 75 percent of all species on the planet, then North American mammals are one-fifth to one-half the way there, according ...
From greenhouse to icehouse -- reconstructing the environment of the Voring Plateau
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (8) |
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The analysis of microfossils found in ocean sediment cores is illuminating the environmental conditions that prevailed at high latitudes during a critical period of Earth history.
Late-surviving megafauna exposed by ancient DNA in frozen soil
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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Extinct woolly mammoths and ancient American horses may have been grazing the North American steppe for several thousand years longer than previously thought. After plucking ancient DNA from frozen soil in ...
Hypoxia increases as climate warms
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
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A new study of Pacific Ocean sediments off the coast of Chile has found that offshore waters experienced systematic oxygen depletion during the rapid warming of the Antarctic following the last "glacial maximum" period 20,000 ...
The Meandering Channels of Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
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Sinuous channels on the Martian surface may be evidence of relatively recent rainfall. Researchers plan to test this hypothesis by studying sinuous streams on Earth.
Rare Scottish mineral may indicate life on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (22) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists is looking for clues about life on Mars in an earthy clay mineral found only in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.
DNA study sheds new light on horse evolution
Dec 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (5) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient DNA retrieved from extinct horse species from around the world has challenged one of the textbook examples of evolution - the fossil record of the horse family Equidae over the past ...
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