An ice age also referred as glacial age, is a lasting period in the depletion in temperature of the earth's surface and atmosphere, which results to the extension or presence of polar ice sheets, continental ice sheets, and glaciers. During the ice age, the whole world experiences colder climatic conditions. At these times, the Polar Regions are cold, temperatures from the equator to the pole have a substantial difference, and there is covering on large areas of the earth by continental- size glaciers. Ice age is the individual's pulses of cold climate, whereas the irregular warm periods are referred to as interglacial. Ice age entails the extensive presence of ice sheets both in northern and southern hemispheres in glaciology terminology, …show more content…
Climate changes originating from changes in Earth's orbit and changes of its axial tilt are proposed causes of glaciations according to Esmark, in a paper published in 1824. There are three important types of affirmation for ice ages namely; chemical, geological, and paleontological.
Geological; this evidence for ice ages occurs in different forms, involving stone scratching and scouring, valley cutting, drumlins, glacial moraines, glacial erratic and till deposition. Consecutive glaciations tends to warp and erase the geological evidence thus making difficulties in interpretation (Peltier)
The paleontological; this evidence comprises in the geographical distribution of remnant changes. Again, it is difficult to interpret since it requires a series of sediments that covers a very long period, the range of latitudes, ancient organisms which without change, survive for some million years and whose temperatures can be diagnosed quickly and the pertinent fossils findings.
The chemical evidence; mostly comprises of variations of isotopes ratios in present fossils in sedimentary and sediments rocks and ocean sediment basics. However, this proof can be contradicted by other influences displayed by other isotope
People are responsible for higher carbon dioxide atmosphere emissions, while the Earth is now into the Little Ice Age, or just behind it. These factors together cause many years discussions of the main sources of climate changes and the temperature increasing as a result of human been or natural changes and its consequences; even if its lead to the global warming, or to the Earth’s cooling. In their articles, “Global Warming Is Eroding Glacial Ice” by Andrew C. Revkin and “Global Warming Is Not a Threat to Polar Ice” by Philip Stott, both authors discuss these two theories (Revkin 340; Stott 344). Revkin is right that global warming is taking place. Significant increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is due to human activities combined with natural factors such as volcanic emissions and solar radiation – all together they lead to climate changes and temperatures rising. At the same time, other factors such as deforestation contribute to environmental changes for some glaciers not less than air pollution. However, during global warming not all regions of the planet are affected in the same way, local warming and cooling are both possible during these changes.
Palaeogeography deals with the reconstruction of physical geographical conditions for the eras of the Earth's history. The term comes from the Greek παλαιός (palaiós) meaning ‘old’ and γεωγραφία (geōgraphía) meaning ‘a description of the earth’ and seems to have been introduced in the Earth sciences vocabulary as ‘Palaeo-Geographie’ by Ami Boué (1794‒1881), a French‒Austrian geologist, in his publication Einiges zur palaeo-geologischen Geographie (Boué, 1875, p. 2). Palaeogeography focuses on the distribution of land and sea, the spread of mountains and volcanoes and the expansion of glaciations, among others. The results are presented in geographic depictions called palaeogeographic maps. A special kind of palaeogeograpahical map is palaeobiogeographical maps depicting the distribution of
Shubin, N.H., & Marshall, C.R. 2000. Fossils, genes and the origin of novelty. Paleobiology, 26(4): 324-340.
The Little Ice Age is the name for the period of cooling spanning from 1400 to 1900 c.e. that took place after the Medieval Warm Period. Scientists believe that solar minimums and reversals in the Northern Atlantic Oscillation, a large atmospheric-circulation system that affects weather in the North Atlantic area including Europe, drove these changes (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014). It is often assumed that the Little Ice Age had a global impact. However, in 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put forth in a climate assessment report that though there were glacial increases in other parts of the world, they were not synchronous with the glacia...
Both Allen (2008) and Hoffman (1998) then thought that the glaciation ended fast due to very high levels of carbon dioxide. According to Hoffman (1998) the carbon dioxide levels got higher because of release ...
regions of the earth can indicate which rock layer is older than the other. Trilobite fossils
The Paleolithic Age was the earliest period of man. This time period dates back to 15,000 BCE. There are many artifacts from the Paleolithic Age including Lucy (female hominid), Otzi (ice man), and cave art.
Climate change is difficult to express directly, for knowledge of climate change generally falls under the classification of “weather.” However geologists have known since the mid-nineteenth century that local, and global climate undergoes change throug...
...d the orbit of Earth in the last thirty years. Scientists and researchers agree that human activities like burning of fossil fuels is the main cause and driving force behind climate change.
According to the IPCC, climate change is defined as variations of climate conditions and its fluctuations existing on a long term particularly decades or longer (IPCC's Glossary, 2006).The alteration varies from changes in temperature, humidity, precipitation to the rise and fall sea level, or severe changes in landscape. Since the 1800s, the earth has had variant changes in global hemispheric temperature which mostly depicts the decrease of temperature. However, at the start of 1970s, temperature begins to rise up simultaneously in all regions for over roughly a century, an event that was unseen before (Figure 1.1) (Jones, 2011). Furthermore, as earth’s temperature is getting warmer, the ice in the Arctic Ocean began to melt in the warming temperature. The liquidation of the Arctic Ice has been occurring since the 1970s, however in Septem...
Just a couple weeks ago, we were complaining how winter was so cold and how it would never end in Canada; but imagine living in the glacial period, where there was a time when glaciers, large masses of ice, covered a huge portion of the Earth’s surface. Studies show that the polar ice caps, as we know them today used to cover approximately 30% of the Earth during our last Ice Age. The Earth remained in this state for thousands and thousands of years. Cold, right? According to geologists, there have been an approximate total of 5 major ice ages. They began appearing roughly 2, 300, 000 years ago, up until the most recent one, approximately 10,000 years ago; it was the ice age period/glacial period, and that’s was exactly what happened. Ice Ages are points in time when the temperatures around the world, including the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth, were cold consistently for a span of over multiple thousand years. Unlike the average temperature of 220C we have now, the ice ages were much colder, having an average of approximately 50C.
Global warming is also referred to as climate change. Climate is a measure of the average pattern of variation in temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, and other variables in a given region over a period of time. The climate of Earth has been noticeably increasing since the Industrial Revolution (School, Climate Change, 2014). Scientist can tell climate change using a couple of different kinds of methods. A couple of the methods that these scientists use are looking at tree rings and observing ...
Although climate change has been regularly discussed since the 1950s, climate change is the result of activities that go way beyond that period. Effects of climate change include higher air and ocean temperatures, increasing melting ice and snow, leading to rising sea levels, and the increase in the level of concentrations of greenhouse gases.
This study focuses on the connection of Archeology with different forms of science and even statistics. Archeology has been the major component for many years when it comes to studying human activity and remains of the past and has been used in different areas around the world. There are also many different forms or types of archeology. An important form of archeology is archaeological science or also known as archaeometry. Archaeometry helps narrow down what time period something was created, died or how long it has been around. You are able to study and look back at human activity such as trade routes and diets. With these major proponents Archeologists are able to draw or paint a mental picture about how a certain area looked like. Obsidian sources, diets, deoxyribonucleic acid, dating techniques, residues, neutron activation analysis (NAA), and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) are all major areas that make up archeological science. Also, there are many different types of dating techniques that help in this process. With the dating techniques you can narrow down a time frame if not the actual date when a material was around. NAA and XRF help characterize different materials and residues assist with goods found such as wine and chocolate; obsidian sources give assistance to finding trade routes.
Climate change is triggering major changes in our planet. A simple rise or fall in general temperature can have a large effect on precipitation patterns and the frequency of storms. The rise in the sea level, which has been accounted for and is constantly rising has been the result of melting of ice and glaciers.