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. A number of major ice ages have occurred throughout Earth history. 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 (1.8 million to 11,500 years ago).
A lesser, recent glacial stage called the Little Ice Age began in the 16th century and advanced and receded intermittently over three centuries in Europe and many other regions. Its maximum development was reached about 1750, at which time glaciers were more widespread on Earth than at any time since the last major ice age ended about 11,500 years ago.
A-polar-map-shows-five-great-ice-caps-or-centresA polar map shows five great ice caps, or centres, from which the ice moved outward during the Ice …
The-blue-areas-are-those-that-were-covered-by-iceThe blue areas are those that were covered by ice sheets in the past. The Kansan and Nebraskan …
Europe-like-North-America-had-four-periods-of-glaciationEurope, like North America, had four periods of glaciation. Successive ice caps reached limits that …
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "ice age" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.