Interglacial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An Interglacial is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature that separates glacials, or ice ages. The current Holocene interglacial has persisted since the Pleistocene, about 11,400 years ago.
[edit] Interglacials during the Pleistocene
During the 2 million year span of the Pleistocene, numerous glacials, or significant advances of continental ice sheets in North America and Europe occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. These glacial periods were separated by more temperate interglacials.
During the interglacials, the climate warmed and the tundra receded to the north following the ice sheets. Forests returned to areas that once supported the tundra vegetation. The ice sheets advanced and receded several times during the last glacial, which occurred during the time period (75,000 to 12,000 B.P.)
Brief periods of warmth that occurred during the last glacial are called interstadials that are much shorter than interglacials. The oxygen isotope ratio, a proxy for average global temperature, is a major source of information about changes in the climate of the earth.
Interglacials are a useful tool for anthropologists, as they can be used as a dating method for hominid fossils. [1].
[edit] References
- ^ Kottak, Conard Phillip. "Window on Humanity". New York, New York. 2005.
