Circa 24,000–16,000 BCE; most recent era when ice sheets were at their greatest extent
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period,[1] was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent 26,000 and 20,000 years ago.[2]
Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Europe, and Asia and profoundly affected Earth's climate by causing a major expansion of deserts,[3] along with a large drop in sea levels.[4]
Based on changes in position of ice sheet margins dated via terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides and radiocarbon dating, growth of ice sheets in the southern hemisphere commenced 33,000 years ago and maximum coverage has been estimated to have occurred sometime between 26,500 years ago[1] and 20,000 years ago.[5] After this, deglaciation caused an abrupt rise in sea level. Decline of the West Antarctica ice sheet occurred between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago, consistent with evidence for another abrupt rise in the sea level about 14,500 years ago.[6][7] Glacier fluctuations around the Strait of Magellan suggest the peak in glacial surface area was constrained to between 25,200 and 23,100 years ago.[8]
There are no agreed dates for the beginning and end of the LGM, and researchers select dates depending on their criteria and the data set consulted. Jennifer French, an archeologist specialising in the European Palaeolithic, dates its onset at 27,500 years ago, with ice sheets at their maximum by around 26,000 years ago and deglaciation commencing between 20,000 and 19,000 years ago.[9] The LGM is referred to in Britain as the Dimlington Stadial, dated to between 31,000 and 16,000 years ago.[10][11]
^ abBarrell, David J. A.; Almond, Peter C.; Vandergoes, Marcus J.; Lowe, David J.; Newnham, Rewi M. (15 August 2013). "A composite pollen-based stratotype for inter-regional evaluation of climatic events in New Zealand over the past 30,000 years (NZ-Intimate project)". Quaternary Science Reviews. 74: 4–20. Bibcode:2013QSRv...74....4B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.04.002. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
^Armstrong, Edward; Hopcroft, Peter O.; Valdes, Paul J. (7 November 2019). "A simulated Northern Hemisphere terrestrial climate dataset for the past 60,000 years". Scientific Data. 6 (1): 265. Bibcode:2019NatSD...6..265A. doi:10.1038/s41597-019-0277-1. PMC 6838074. PMID 31700065.
^Beyer, Robert M.; Krapp, Mario; Manica, Andrea (14 July 2020). "High-resolution terrestrial climate, bioclimate and vegetation for the last 120,000 years". Scientific Data. 7 (1): 236. Bibcode:2020NatSD...7..236B. doi:10.1038/s41597-020-0552-1. PMC 7360617. PMID 32665576.
^Mithen, Steven (2004). After the Ice: a global human history, 20.000–5.000 BC. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-674-01570-8.
^Anonymous (22 February 1994). "Reconstructing the last glacial and deglacial ice sheets". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 75 (8): 82–84. Bibcode:1994EOSTr..75...82.. doi:10.1029/94EO00492. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
^Clark, Peter U.; Dyke, Arthur S.; Shakun, Jeremy D.; Carlson, Anders E.; Clark, Jorie; Wohlfarth, Barbara; Mitrovica, Jerry X.; Hostetler, Steven W. & McCabe, A. Marshall (2009). "The Last Glacial Maximum". Science. 325 (5941): 710–4. Bibcode:2009Sci...325..710C. doi:10.1126/science.1172873. PMID 19661421. S2CID 1324559.
^Evans, Amanda M.; Flatman, Joseph C.; Flemming, Nicholas C. (5 May 2014). Prehistoric Archaeology on the Continental Shelf: A Global Review. Springer. ISBN 978-1-46149635-9 – via Google books.
^Fernández, Marilén; Ponce, Juan Federico; Mercau, Josefina Ramón; Coronato, Andrea; Laprida, Cecilia; Maidana, Nora; Quiroga, Diego; Magneres, Ignacio (15 July 2020). "Paleolimnological response to climate variability during Late Glacial and Holocene times: A record from Lake Arturo, located in the Fuegian steppe, southern Argentina". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 550: 109737. Bibcode:2020PPP...55009737F. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109737. S2CID 216352827. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
^French, Jennifer (2021). Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-108-49206-5.
^Ashton, Nick (2017). Early Humans. William Collins. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-00-815035-8.
^Pettitt, Paul; White, Mark (2012). The British Palaeolithic: hominin societies at the edge of the Pleistocene world. London: Routledge. pp. 424–426. ISBN 978-0415674546.
and 27 Related for: Last Glacial Maximum information
this lastglacial period, alternating episodes of glacier advance, and retreat occurred. Within the lastglacial period, the LastGlacialMaximum was between...
ISBN 978-0-444-51593-3. Kuhle, M. (2011). "Ch 53: The High-Glacial (LastGlacialMaximum) Glacier Cover of the Aconcagua Group and Adjacent Massifs in...
Historically low levels were reached during the LastGlacialMaximum (LGM), about 20,000 years ago. The last time the sea level was higher than today was...
contribution) from regional varieties of archaic humans. After the LastGlacialMaximum, North Eurasian populations migrated to the Americas about 20,000...
example of the Saharan pump has occurred after the LastGlacialMaximum (LGM). During the LastGlacialMaximum the Sahara desert was more extensive than it...
periods) and interstadials (warmer periods) The last stadial reached its peak in the LastGlacialMaximum, between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago, and the...
ago at the end of the Penultimate Glacial Period and ended about 115,000 years ago at the beginning of the LastGlacial Period. It corresponds to Marine...
The Penultimate Glacial Period (PGP) is the glacial period that occurred before the LastGlacial Period. The penultimate glacial period is officially unnamed...
Evidence suggests that most of the increase in temperature between the LastGlacialMaximum and the Holocene took place in the immediate aftermath of the Oldest...
the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the lastglacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology...
result of increased selection pressure and founder effects during the LastGlacialMaximum (LGM, Gravettian). By the end of the LGM, after 20 ka, A Western...
The Weichselian glaciation (Northern Polish glaciation) was the lastglacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine...
During the LastGlacialMaximum, the mammoth steppe, also known as steppe-tundra, was once the Earth's most extensive biome. It stretched east-to-west...
appeared, expanding during glacial periods and contracting during interglacial periods. Since the end of the lastglacial period, only the Antarctic and...
effectively abrade the bedrock. Most glacial striations were exposed by the retreat of glaciers since the LastGlacialMaximum or the more recent Little Ice...
The ice sheet covered up to 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi) at the LastGlacialMaximum and probably more than that in some previous periods, when it may...
by a newer glacial event. The terminal moraines resulting from the LastGlacialMaximum are the most informational features about glacial advance still...
glaciers (deglaciation) that previously had advanced during the Last GlacialMaximum. Ice sheet retreat initiated ca. 19,000 years ago and accelerated after...
occurred between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago, just before or during the LastGlacialMaximum (20,000–27,000 years ago). This timespan represents the upper time-limit...
Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of sea level during the LastGlacialMaximum (26,000 to 19,000 years ago). These populations expanded south of...
The term Ancient East Eurasian, alternatively also known as East Eurasian or Eastern Eurasian, is used in population genomics to describe the genetic ancestry...
dramatic changes, and included the LastGlacialMaximum, the coldest phase of the lastglacial period, which lasted from about 26.5 to 19 kya, being coldest...
In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient Northern East Asian (ANEA), also known as Northern East Asian (NEA), is used to summarize the related ancestral components...
on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate between glacial periods. The LastGlacial Period ended about 15,000 years ago. The Holocene is the current...
States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years ago to the present. The last advance covered most of northern North America...