Ice age
- Ice age is any geologic period during which thick ice sheets cover vast areas of land.
- Such periods of large-scale glaciation may last several million years and drastically reshape surface features of entire continents.
- The earliest known took place during Precambrian time dating back more than 570 million years.
- The most recent periods of widespread glaciation occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).
- Ice ages are not uniformly cold. There can be colder and warmer periods during the overall ice-age period.
- Colder periods lead to more extensive areas of continental ice sheets, valley glaciers and sea ice, while warmer periods lead to reduced areas of ice.
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