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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. The Last Glacial Period ended about 15,000 years ago. [1]
Within ice ages, there exist periods of more severe glacial conditions and more temperate conditions, referred to as glacial periods and interglacial periods, respectively. 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.
Last Glacial Period, not to be confused with the Last Glacial Maximum or Late Glacial Maximum below. (The following events also fall into this period.) 48,000–28,000: Mousterian Pluvial wet in North Africa 26,500–19,000: Last Glacial Maximum, what is often meant in popular usage by "Last Ice Age" 16,000–13,000
During the Quaternary glaciation, ice sheets appeared, expanding during glacial periods and contracting during interglacial periods. Since the end of the last glacial period, only the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have survived, while other sheets formed during glacial periods, such as the Laurentide Ice Sheet, have completely melted.
In temperate glaciers, which are characterized by the presence of liquid water at their base and are able to slide, subglacial streams have a significant impact on glacial movement. The water pressure and friction experienced at the base of a glacier depends in part on whether the subglacial hydrological system is channelized or distributed. [5]
The movement of the water is influenced and directed by gravity and the melting of ice. [1] The melting of ice forms different types of glacial streams such as supraglacial, englacial, subglacial and proglacial streams. [1] Water enters supraglacial streams that sit at the top of the glacier via filtering through snow in the accumulation zone ...
Glacial lakes have been rapidly forming on the surface of the debris-covered glaciers in this region during the last few decades. USGS researchers have found a strong correlation between increasing temperatures and glacial retreat in this region. Glacial motion is the motion of glaciers, which can be likened to rivers of ice. It has played an ...
Periods of greater ice stream flow result in more ice transfer from ice sheets to the ocean, raising sea level. [10] At the margin between glacial ice and water, ice calving takes place as glaciers begin to fracture, and icebergs break off from the large masses of ice.