Last Glacial Period

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For the most recent period cooler than present but without significant glaciation,
see Little Ice Age. For the full sequence of geologically recent glacial advances
and retreats, see Quaternary glaciation. For the geological epoch often associated
with or referred to as "The Ice Age", see Pleistocene.
For a generic geological period of reduced temperature and increased glaciation,
see Ice age.
"Last glacial" redirects here. For the period of maximum glacier extent during this
time, see Last Glacial Maximum.

Chronology of climatic events of importance for the last glacial period (about the
last 120,000 years)
The Last Glacial Period (LGP) occurred from the end of the Eemian to the end of the
Younger Dryas, encompassing the period c.?115,000 � c.?11,700 years ago. This most
recent glacial period is part of a larger pattern of glacial and interglacial
periods known as the Quaternary glaciation extending from c.?2,588,000 years ago to
present.[1] The definition of the Quaternary as beginning 2.58 Ma is based on the
formation of the Arctic ice cap. The Antarctic ice sheet began to form earlier, at
about 34 Ma, in the mid-Cenozoic (Eocene�Oligocene extinction event). The term Late
Cenozoic Ice Age is used to include this early phase.[2]

During this last glacial period there were alternating episodes of glacier advance
and retreat. Within the last glacial period the Last Glacial Maximum was
approximately 22,000 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). Approximately
13,000 years ago, the Late Glacial Maximum began. The end of the Younger Dryas
about 11,700 years ago marked the beginning of the Holocene geological epoch, which
includes the Holocene glacial retreat.

From the point of view of human archaeology, the last glacial period falls in the
Paleolithic and early Mesolithic periods. When the glaciation event started, Homo
sapiens were confined to lower latitudes and used tools comparable to those used by
Neanderthals in western and central Eurasia and by Homo erectus in Asia. Near the
end of the event, Homo sapiens migrated into Eurasia and Australia. Archaeological
and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic humans survived
the last glacial period in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of
high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover.[3]

Artist's impression of the last glacial period at glacial maximum[4]

Contents
1 Origin and definition
2 Overview
2.1 Northern Hemisphere
2.2 Southern Hemisphere
3 Deglaciation
4 Named local glaciations
4.1 Antarctica glaciation
4.2 Europe
4.2.1 Devensian and Midlandian glaciation (Britain and Ireland)
4.2.2 Weichselian glaciation (Scandinavia and northern Europe)
4.2.3 W�rm glaciation (Alps)
4.3 North America
4.3.1 Pinedale or Fraser glaciation (Rocky Mountains)
4.3.2 Wisconsin glaciation
4.3.3 Tahoe, Tenaya, and Tioga, Sierra Nevada
4.3.4 Greenland glaciation
4.4 South America
4.4.1 M�rida glaciation (Venezuelan Andes)
4.4.2 Llanquihue glaciation (Southern Andes)
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
Origin and definition
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 year-round ice sheets are present near one or both poles.
Glacials are colder phases within an ice age in which glaciers advance; glacials
are separated by interglacials. Thus, the end of the last glacial period, which was
about 11,700 years ago, is not the end of the last ice age since extensive year-
round ice persists in Antarctica and Greenland. Over the past few million years the
glacial-interglacial cycles have been "paced" by periodic variations in the Earth's
orbit via Milankovitch cycles.

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 in the Northern Hemisphere and to a
lesser extent in the Southern Hemisphere. They have different names, historically
developed and depending on their geographic distributions: Fraser (in the Pacific
Cordillera of North America), Pinedale (in the Central Rocky Mountains),
Wisconsinan or Wisconsin (in central North America), Devensian (in the British
Isles),[5] Midlandian (in Ireland), W�rm (in the Alps), M�rida (in Venezuela),
Weichselian or Vistulian (in Northern Europe and northern Central Europe), Valdai
in Russia and Zyryanka in Siberia, Llanquihue in Chile, and Otira in New Zealand.
The geochronological Late Pleistocene includes the late glacial (Weichselian) and
the immediately preceding penultimate interglacial (Eemian) period.

Overview

Vegetation types at time of Last Glacial Maximum

Last glacial period, as seen in ice core data from Antarctica and Greenland
Northern Hemisphere
Canada was nearly completely covered by ice, as well as the northern part of the
United States, 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 and the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and as ice fields and ice caps in the
Sierra Nevada in northern California.[6] 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
Taymyr Peninsula in western Siberia.[7] The maximum extent of western Siberian
glaciation was reached by approximately 16,000�15,000 BC and thus later than in
Europe (c.?20,000 � c.?16,000 BC).[8] Northeastern Siberia was not covered by a
continental-scale ice sheet.[9] Instead, large, but restricted, icefield complexes
covered mountain ranges within northeast Siberia, including the Kamchatka-Koryak
Mountains.[10][11]

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 shallow ice,
subject to seasonal changes and riddl