Key Earth Science Links
Quaternary Period—Pleistocene "Ice Ages"
Ice Ages. Illinois State Museum. Good, nontechnical summaries concerning what ice ages are, when they occurred, and why they occur. The first page has an animation that shows the advance and retreat of the last ice sheet across North America. The link to Why ice ages occur? has good summaries of theories for the Pleistocene ice age, including changing continental positions, uplift of continental blocks, reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere, and changes in the earth's orbit (Milankovitch cycles).
Ice Ages. Rochester University. Good summary of the last ice age, with information and pictures about glaciers, effects of glaciers (climate, physcial evidence, landforms), and theories on the causes of ice ages.
The Great Ice Age. Lois Ray, U.S. Geological Survey. Online, nontechnical report in PDF format, which explains the observations that provided evidence for an "Ice Age" and explanations of how continental glaciers formed and retreated.
Chapter 10. Landforms of Glaciation. Fundamentals of Physical Geography. Online textbook chapter concerning glacial erosion and deposits with many pictures and illustrations.
The Discovery of Global Warming--The Variable Sun. American Institute of Physics. Technical summary of the history of climate change theories, including observations that led to the realization of a series of Pleistocene ice ages.
The Big Chill. K.A. Maasch, NOVA Online. Explanation of what an ice age is, with short summaries of possible causes for the Pleistocene ice ages.
Last Ice Age. Paleomap Project. Map of the world at the last glacial maximum, 18,000 years ago.
- The Ice Age in Ohio. M. Hansen, Ohio Geological Survey. Four-page non-technical paper (pdf format) explaining the last Ice Age in Ohio. Brief explanations of what an Ice Age is, what happened during the last Ice Age in Ohio (just north of Kentucky), the types of landforms left behind by continental ice, and the economic resources that resulted from the melting ice.