Glaciation and the Pleistocene

Over the last two million years, severe climatic changes had
tremendous influence on life on earth.
These events were recent enough that a number of techniques that
they can be studied using techniques that are not available for more
ancient times.

Pleiostocene pack rat

midden in eastern
Nevada
Over its history, the earth has
undergone many periods of
extensive glaciation.
Often, this resulted when plate
movements positioned large
continental blocks over the
poles.
Much of the Mesozoic and early
Cenozoic, however, were
characterized by mild climates.
Therefore, the glacial and
interglacial cycles of the
Pleistocene represented a
dramatic shift. The Wisconsin maximum
During the Pleistocene, the
earth experienced numerous
glacial-interglacial cycles.
The glaciers were enormous,
often 2-3 km thick. At their
maximum extent, they
covered up to a third of the
earths land surface.
At the maximum extent of the
last glacial period, ice sheets
extended to about 45º N.
latitude

During the last glacial maximum (about 18,000 years B.P.) the Gulf Stream
helped keep the North Atlantic relatively warm. It also cooled southern Europe
and Africa as it flowed southward.
The last glacial
maximum was largely
(not entirely) a North
American
phenomenon.
During these glacial maxima,
Glacio-pluvial lakes of western
prevailing winds shifted. Moist North America
air penetrated into the interior of
most continents, causing wet
(glacio-pluvial) conditions regions
that are now arid.
The same climate patterns led
now moist tropical regions to be
drier during glacial maxima.
Glaciation was largely a northern
hemisphere phenomenon, simply
because of the distribution of
land masses.
Move through the next few
slides to examine the glacial
recession in North America
since the Wisconsin glaciation,
the last glacial maximum of
about 18,000 B.P. (before
present).

Watch for:
1. The retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet, leaving the Great Lakes
behind.
2. The opening of unglaciated areas between the Laurentide and the
Cordilleran ice sheets.
3. The creation of massive Lake Agassiz, which will ultimately burst
through the ice dam and empty into the forming Hudson Bay.
The “dumping” of
Lake Agassiz is
thought by some
paleoclimatologists
to have triggered the
“Younger Dryas”.

The present-day Minnesota River Valley was a drainage basin for Lake
Agassiz.
What caused the ice ages?
Scientists once believed that they had resulted from changes in the
output of solar radiation from the sun. This does not appear to be the
case.
Instead, the Pleistocene ice ages seem to have resulted from changes
in the Earth’s orbit which, in turn, resulted in changes in incident solar
radiation.
These changes are known as Milanovitch cycles.
Milankovitch cycles are periodic changes in:
1. the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, i.e., how elliptical the orbit is.
This occurs with a period of about 100,000 years.
2. obliquity, i.e. the tilt of the earth’s axis to the plane of the ecliptic.
This occurs with a period of about 41,000 years, over which time
the tilt changes from about 22.1 to about 24.5. The current tilt is
about 23.5.
3. The precession of the “point” of the poles. This occurs with a
period of about 22,000 years.
It’s also believed that, as ice
developed, the increased
albedo of the earth led to
further cooling.
What’s the Evidence?

By analyzing the oxygen

contained in the CaCO3
shells of preserved marine
invertebrates, we can
determine the amount of
16O and 18O present in the

atmosphere at the time of

the shell formation.
The lighter 16O evaporates
more rapidly during warmer
periods.
With calibration, this ratio
can be used to esimate
temperatures.
Past and
(predicted) future
changes in the
Milankovitch
cycles.
Periods of the
cycles remain
relatively
constant, but their
amplitude varies
considerably.
Estimated average
global air temperature
over the past 850,000
years (inferred from
oxygen isotope)
measurements from
ice cores.
Note that we are
currently in a very
warm interglacial
period. In general,
interglacials tend to be
brief in duration.
The earth has
undergone at least
If you’re wondering how these determinations
twenty major glacial
can be made, here’s a link to a site that
periods over the past 2
describes the use of oxygen ratios in
million years.
paleoclimatology.
Records of global ocean temperatures over
the last 140,000 years indicate that the last
two shifts from interglacials to glacial
maxima took place of just a few thousand
years.
Air temperatures from Eastern Europe over the
last 10,000 years….
…and the variation in
mid-latitude air
temperatures from the
Northern Hemisphere
over the last thousand
years. Again, note that
the changes can be rapid.

Global temperatures have varied significantly over the last millenium.

After the relatively warm Middle Ages, temperatures cooled rapidly and
we experienced the “Little Ice Ages”. A recent warming trend began
about 150 years ago, and another cooling trend began around 1940.
This cooling trend
seems to have been
halted and reversed
over the last twenty
years, apparently by
anthropogenically-
induced warming.
During the
Pleistocene, climates
were influenced far
south of the glaciers.
This figure indicates
that many
unglaciated regions
of North and South
America were from 4
to 8C. cooler in the
Pleistocene than
they are today.
 The Laurentide
ice sheet which
existed from
18,000-9,000 B.P.
caused changes
in prevailing wind
patterns.
This had great
influence on local
climates.

While, globally, average ocean temperatures just dropped a couple of

degrees, the temperature of the North Atlantic dropped as much as 10C.
As winds moved down the very tall, steep faces of the glaciers,
they warmed adiabatically. This moderated conditions in
regions adjacent to the glaciers.
Sea Level Change
The lowering of sea level during the Pleistocene led to the formation of
Beringia, which connected North America and Asia. These eustatic
changes were global fluctuations in sea level that resulted from the
freezing of massive quantities of water.
A better view of Beringia.
Lower sea level also
resulted in the
connection of many of
the islands of Indonesia
with the mainland of
Asia and Australia,
respectively.
Wallace’s Line, a major
biogeographic division,
reflects the separation
between those glacial
land masses.
Two different
methods have
been used to
estimate ancient
sea levels, oxygen
istope data and the
depth of fossil
coral reefs.
Estimates derived
from these two
estimates agree
reasonably well.
An examination of sea
level changes
throughout the
Pleistocene reveal how
rapidly (in a geological
sense) the transition
from glacial to
interglacial conditions
can occur.
The coastline of the southeastern U.S. has also changed dramatically
since the last glacial maximum.
During the most recent glacial retreat, sea level rose rapidly, creating
a shallow sea that covered the Saint Lawrence River Valley, Lake
Champlain, and the Ottawa River.
A depiction of animals at the edge of the Champlain Sea. Many marine
fossils have been found there, including a number of large marine
mammals.
This explains the disjunct
distribution of plants such
as the seaside spurge,
Euphorbia polygonifolia.
Biogeographic Responses to Glaciation

A disjunct distribution
Biogeographic changes were triggered by three environmental
changes that occurred as a result of the glacial/interglacial cycle.
1. Changes in the location, extent, and configuration of prime
habitats.
2. Changes in the nature of climatic and environmental zones.
3. Formation and removal of dispersal routes.
The responses of biotas can also be placed into three categories.
1. Some species were able to move with their optimal habitat as it
changed location.
2. Some species remained in place and adapted to new
conditions.
3. Some species underwent range reductions, and many
ultimately became extinct.
Vegetation zones in
Europe during the last
glacial maximum
(Würm).
The zones for most
types were shifted to
the south by 10 to
20 latitude.
In some cases, east-
west mountain ranges
blocked the southward
range shift.
In contrast, the
“north-south”
mountain ranges and
major rivers of North
America made it
easy for high latitude
biomes to shift to the
south.
The next few slides
show the gradual
northward retreat of
those biomes
following the
Wisconsin maximum
of 18,000 B.P.
Pollen profiles in the Andes Mountains of South America show how vegetation
zones have shifted upward since the last glacial maximum.
Compare the illustrations below, showing the distribution of vegetation on
Andean slopes at the time of the glacial maximum and today.
The increasingly warm climate has forced the retreat of the cold-adapted
vegetation found higher on the slopes. Note the upward shift of most
vegetation zones.
Realize how this elevation shift relates to the latitudinal shifts seen earlier.
And look at this…. These graphs represent the
upper elevational limits of tropical forests (as
determined from pollen analysis) in mountains of
three different regions (East Africa, New Guinea,
and South America) over the last 33,000 years .
Note that in these widely separated regions, the
elevation of the tropical forest decreased from about
28,000 B.P. to around 16,000 B.P., then began to
increase.
This represents the cooler climate of the glacial
period (during which the forests shifted to lower
elevation), followed by the warming of the
interglacial with the concurrent upward shift of the
forest.
We see dramatic
latitudinal vegetation
shifts in southern
hemisphere regions as
well.
Note the dramatic
changes in vegetation
zones along the eastern
coast of Australia.
This shift from a dry-
adapted woodland to rain
forest illustrates that the
responses to glacial and
interglacial conditions are
not uniform.
The overall change
in vegetation types
in North America
has been a
dramatic decrease
in tundra, with
increases in
deciduous forests,
northern
hardwoods, mixed
forests, and
coniferous forests.
Inland lodgepole
pines have expanded
their range northward
over the last 12,000
years. The northern
range boundaries (as
indicated by pollen
records) at various
dates before present
are indicated by the
dots.
The northward
range expansion of
the white spruce
following the retreat
of the Laurentide
glacier was
facilitated by
prevailing winds
(shown by the white
arrows). After the
range expansion
had reached the
edge of the glacier,
the northerly winds
aided in a rapid
range expansion to
the north.
The next few slides illustrate the
range shifts of four species of
rodents during the Holocene.
In each, the shaded area represents
the present range, while the dots
indicate the location of late
Pleistocene fossils.
The range shifts differ from species
to species. The direction and length
of the arrow indicate the magnitude
and direction of the range shift.

This one is the collared lemming

(Dicrostonyx).
The range shift of the brown
lemming (Lemmus) is smaller in
magnitude.
The eastern chipmunk
(Tamias striatus) shifted to the
northeast.
The northern pocket gopher
(Thomomys talpoides) shifted to
the west.
How can we explain
differences in the rate
of range expansion of
tree species following
the recession of the
glaciers?
Differences in range shifts
may have a number of
results. In these cases,
species which co-occurred
during the most recent
glacial maximum have
become disjunct today.
In these figures, current
ranges of species are
shown. The dot represents
a location where late
Pleistocene fossils of all are
found together.
Significant changes in
elevational
distribution of
vegetation have
occurred since the
Pleistocene. This is
in the mountainous
region of the
American Southwest
near southern
Arizona.

Notice that the elevational range was lower during the glacial periods of the
Pleistocene.
The next two slides show the distribution of vegetation zones in the
southwestern United States during the last glacial period compared
with those today.
By moving back and forth between the two slides, you can see that
desert regions have expanded greatly, while vegetation zones adapted
to cooler climates have declined. Alpine habitat has disappeared, while
the coniferous forests that were widespread during the glacial period
have declined dramatically.
Glacial Lake Agassiz
covered much of
present-day central
Canada about 9000 B.P.
About 8000 B.P., the ice
dam holding the waters
behind it burst with a
catastrophic release of
fresh water into Hudson
Bay.
Shyok Ice Lake is a modern-day
example of a post-glacial lake
formed when retreating glaciers
served as dams and meltwater
accumulated in glacier-carved
valleys.
Shyok is located along the western
edge of the Himalayas.
Kettle lakes were formed
when retreating glaciers left
ice blocks behind on the
outwash plain.
Lakes formed in the
outwash and in the glacial
till by the melting blocks of
ice.
A glacial plunge pool
lake is formed when
meltwater runs across
the surface of the
glacier and then pours
down its face. A circular
lake is carved at the foot
of the glacial face.
Chapel Lake is one of several
plunge pool lakes created by post
glacial rivers after the Marquette
advance of the most recent ice
age. Its greatest depth is 140 feet.
Pluvial lakes were found across
the western portion of North
America during the Wisconsin
glacial maximum. During the
glacio-pluvial period, these areas
experienced wetter conditions
than the present. Most of what is
now desert was then lakes and
marshes.
Massive Lake Bonneville has,
today, been reduced to Great Salt
Lake. The dissection of other
pluvial lakes into smaller bodies of
water has led to many instances
of vicariant speciation. A well-
studied example of this occurred
with the desert pupfish.
Haffer identfied six
principal areas within
the Amazon basin that
are characterized by
high endemicity. He
proposed that these
areas were refugia.
He thought that they
had remained as
regions of rain forest
during the glacial
maxima, while the
regions around them
became more arid.

Haffer and his colleagues felt that these regions were isolated during the
glacial maxima, and that the isolation was long enough for significant
speciation to take place. They felt that these speciation events explained,
in part, the high diversity of the Amazon basin.
Regions receiving high rainfall were thought to have served as
Pleistocene refugia. Patterns of distribution of some groups, like the
toucanets illustrated above right, seemed to fall in line with this
hypothesis.
Nunataks are
refugia that
persisted within or
adjacent to the ice
sheets.
It appears that such
ice-free areas might
have existed
between the
Laurentide and
Cordilleran ice
sheets, and in a
area of present-day
southern Wisconsin
known as the
driftless refugium.
There may have also been ice-
free areas in mountainous
regions along the Pacific Coast.

These sites may have served as

refugia, as well as acting as
migration corridors during full
glacial conditions.
 This diagram represents the
number or endemics in
various regions of Alaska.

The high frequency of endemic plant species in

central Alaska (as many as 30 species in areas)
suggests that much of Beringia remained
unglaciated and served as a refugium for Arctic
plant species during the Pleistocene.
In North America,
mass extinctions of
terrestrial
vertebrates occurred
during the late
Pleistocene and
early Holocene.
Among the species
that disappeared
were mammoths,
ground sloths,
sabertooth cats, and
giant bison.
Also going extinct were the
giant teratorns vultures,
shown here in comparison
to modern condors.
Paul Martin proposed that that
the extinction of North American
megafauna was the result of
“overkill” by advancing human
populations.
This figures indicates the
advance of human population in
North America, beginning with
the movement of humans across
Beringia to colonize modern-day
Alaska.
They progressively moved to the
south. As they moved, species
of large mammals became
extinct.
Quaternary extinctions were
nonrandom.
They varied significantly in
timing from location to
location, but always hit the
largest taxa the hardest.
Geonynornis newtoni went extinct about 50
mya.
Africa is an exception,
where the extinction of
mammalian megafauna
did not follow the same
pattern.
This may have been
because the mammals
of Africa evolved “with
man”, and were not
exposed as naïve prey
to sophisticated
Pleistocene hunters.
Extinction rates
among moderately
large herbivores
during the late
Pleistocene.
Are there alternative explanations for the Pleistocene extinctions?
It does not appear that the late Pleistocene extinctions can be related
directly to glaciation or any other catastrophic geological event, since
the disappearance of North American megafauna did not take place
until long after the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciers.
Extinction rates
among native and
immigrant large
herbivores and
carnivores in North
America during the
late Wisconsin.
Immigrants did
better than natives.
Selective extinctions of large
megafaunal mammals in
Australia after the arrival of
humans.
Species suffering extinction
are shown in black. Those in
gray became extinct after
European colonization.