Ecology and the Environment

What is an ice age?
Answered by Discovery Channel
  • Discovery Channel

    Discovery Channel

  1. The Earth routinely experiences cycles of warming and cooling. Although scientists still are trying to figure out exactly what drives these cycles, they believe they are caused mostly by changes in our planet's orbit around the sun, the composition of our atmosphere and ocean currents. An extreme period of cooling is called an "ice age," and is partially defined by the growth of huge glaciers covering the Earth. The last ice age ended approximately 12,000 years ago.

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