About 115 thousand years ago the latest growing of ice
of the Quaternary Age begun on the Earth. Everywhere this Ice Age is known under
various names. For Siberia it is accepted to name it as "Ziryanskaya", in the
Alpes – as “Vurm ", in Northern America - as " Wiskonsin ". It lasted
hardly more than 100 thousand years and finished 10 thousand years ago, that is quite
recently in accordance with historical standards. At this time polar glaciers of the
northern hemisphere have grown up to huge sizes, joining in a huge ice shield. The
long branches of ice went aside from it to the south over the channels of large
rivers. All high mountains were also held down the coat of ice. The falling of
temperature and formation of glaciers caused other global modifications in the nature. The
rivers, moved to northern seas, turned out to be damme up by ice walls. Therefore they
spread in large lakes and turned about trying to find a drain in the south. The
warmth-adapted plants started to the south, giving a place for more cold-enduring ones.
At this time the Mammoth Fauna Complex was finally generated, and it mainly
consisted of large, well protected from cold animals.
However, during the latest growing of ice the climate on the planet was not stable.
The climate periodically grew warm, the glacier thew on a border, retreated to the north,
the squares of high-mountainous ices were reduced, the climatic zones were displaced to
the south. Such insignificant modifications in the climate were minor. The scientists
consider that in Eurasia the most cold and severe period was about 20 thousand years ago. |
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| The climatic
modifications in Siberia and in some other areas of the northern hemisphere for the
last 50 thousand years are shown on the diagram. |
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