Download This Sample
This sample is exclusively for KidsKonnect members!
To download this worksheet, click the button below to signup for free (it only takes a minute) and you'll be brought right back to this page to start the download!
Sign Me Up
Table of Contents
An ice age is a long period of cooling the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or extension of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. The climate of the Earth varies between ice ages and greenhouse times when there are no glaciers on the planet.
See the fact file below for more information on the Ice Age, or you can download our 33-page Ice Age worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
HISTORY OF ICE AGE
- According to archaeologists, the earliest recorded ice age occurred during the Precambrian Period.
- It happened 570 million years ago. The structure of the Earth’s crust and other fossilized evidence suggest that this was the world’s first ice age.
- The most recent ice age occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).
- It isn’t easy to believe, but our planet was mostly ice-covered just a few thousand years ago.
- This Ice Age period was crucial in the evolution of warm-blooded species like mammals and humans.
- Earlier ice ages have also occurred on Earth, though their duration is small.
- According to archeologists and historians, a minor ice age occurred but faded within three centuries.
- The Little Ice Age began in the 16th century and lasted until the 19th century. Its evolution climaxed in the 1750s when the glaciers took on their largest form.
- It has been discovered that glaciers in the 1750s had a larger shape than when the last ice age ended 11,700 years ago.
- The Pleistocene, sometimes known as the Ice Age, was a geological epoch from roughly 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth’s most recent periodic period of periodic glaciations. It was the fifth Ice Age in our planet’s history.
- It is important to note that the Pleistocene was not a continuous time of great cold; instead, it experienced extraordinary temperatures alternating between polar and tropical extremes.
- During glaciations, ice sheets extended out from the pole and covered northern Europe and America for tens of thousands of years; yet, there were interglacial periods with temperatures comparable to or warmer than today.
- The most extreme climate swings occurred in the last 600,000 years, as shown in the bottom chart. This was when our ancestors were migrating north into Europe, and the harsh cold impeded their journeys.
- During the coldest eras, certain glaciers in the northern hemisphere reached the 40th parallel (in America).
- They covered up to 30% of the world’s land mass. Take note that England is completely covered in ice. Surprisingly, despite its extreme cold, Siberia is devoid of ice.
- The climate is almost unaffected in Africa and other tropical zones; this allowed Homo erectus, our earliest ancestor who left Africa around 2 Mya, to travel as far as China without encountering winter temperatures.
- Although glaciers in the north have minimal effect on temperatures in the south, they have a significant impact on sea levels all across the planet.
- Glaciations trap massive amounts of water in continental ice sheets 1500-3000 m thick, causing sea levels to decrease by up to 150 meters.
- This produces land bridges between islands and continents, as seen in brown on the given map:
- Approximately 30 glaciations occurred during the Pleistocene. Early hominins moved across these bridges and reached Indonesia, Japan, and England. Australia and the Americas, on the other hand, remained inaccessible: Australia by the sea and America by glaciers.
- Homo sapiens will later use comparable land bridges produced by the last glacier (40 Kya) to island-hop to New Guinea, walk to Australia, and eventually cross into America.
- The map below depicts the migration pathways of successive waves of hominins leaving Africa to colonize the rest of the world, beginning with the Middle East, India, Indonesia, and China, then moving north into Europe, south into Australia, and lastly into the Americas. Take note of the significance of the land crossings (light brown).
- Initially, the barrier to man’s northern expansion was not the Ice Ages but rather the need to adapt to seasonal variation.
- Early hominins could not survive in frigid weather since they were naked vegetarians with no garments or fire.
- Worse, they could only endure winter once they learned to hunt and obtained the necessary equipment.
- So, from approximately 2 Mya to 1 Mya, Homo erectus remained in the warm regions south of the 40th parallel, as seen in dark green on the map below.
- They still went to the Far East, presumably by following the coast around India.
- Around 1 Mya, Homo erectus evolves into a hunter able to cross narrow bodies of water. This enables them to move into Europe and survive in temperate southern locations, such as Spain, which does not experience glaciation.
- It is shown on the map above in a lighter green.
- Recurring Ice Ages will only become an issue when our forefathers attempt to move north of the Alps.
- The final phase will be the arrival of Homo sapiens from Africa circa 60 Kya.
- Homo sapiens thrive in frigid environments because it has a better brain and more advanced technology.
- At the end of the last Ice Age, they marched north into Scandinavia and Siberia around 40,000 years ago.
- They crossed into the Americas around 15,000 years ago.
- Recurrent Ice Ages only became a concern when our forefathers arrived in Europe around 1 Mya and attempted to move north of the Alps.
- This includes advanced Homo erectus variants such as Antecessor or Heidelbergensis, superseded by Neanderthals (from 400 Kya to 40 Kya), and Homo sapiens, who arrived around 40 Kya and lived through the Ice Age’s end.
- Homo sapiens would have had to settle south of the permafrost until the end of the Ice Age, where we find Lascaux and the other painted caves that attest to his existence approximately 30 Kya.
- During previous interglacial eras, late Homo erectus and Neanderthals used temporary land bridges to travel further north, all the way up to England.
- There is evidence of prior visits: 900 Ky old stone tools in Norfolk and 500 Kya remnants in Sussex.
- Surprisingly, Homo sapiens arrived in Australia around 10,000 years before they arrived in Europe.
- It takes time for hominin species to adapt to frigid circumstances after leaving Africa.
- It is more convenient to stay south and travel east across India and beyond.
- Homo erectus, likewise, wandered Asia for a million years before entering Europe.
- Homo sapiens left Africa around 60 Kya and arrived in Indonesia around 50 Kya.
- Whereas Homo erectus could only get as far as Java, Homo sapiens could island-hop to the Philippines and New Guinea, eventually reaching the southern tip of Australia some 38,000 years ago.
- During the previous Ice Age, Homo sapiens(like today’s Inuit) developed the abilities and technology required to flourish in arctic conditions.
- Hunters had advanced into Russia, right up to the tiny Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska, in pursuit of a herd of mammoths and reindeer.
- However, this Strait is just around 50 meters deep, and the last Ice Age’s lower sea levels transformed the Strait into Beringia, an ice-free temporary land link to Alaska.
- This enabled Homo sapiens to travel further to Alaska, where the vast ice shield briefly halted further progress encircled North America.
- The Beringia Bridge vanished beneath rising sea levels when glaciers began to melt. Still, an ice-free corridor opened up just east of the Rockies.
- Homo sapiens were able to advance south and colonize the continent. A man had reached the southernmost tip of South America during the last 2000 years.
- For an extended period, the “ice-free corridor” idea (illustrated above) was the preferred hypothesis for the initial southward migration. Recently, a coastal migration path via canoes appears more likely.
Characteristics of the Ice Age
- Heavy layers of ice form, covering the majority of the landmass on the Earth’s crust.
- Continental glaciations cause rivers and freshwater bodies to freeze.
- Drastic reworking of continental forms due to mass shrinkage and water expansion.
- The tectonic motions of the continental and oceanic plates were influenced by ice ages, resulting in the formation of new land masses and continents.
- Ice appeared to have existed for millions of years in good locations such as the polar caps, alpine glaciers, and a large chunk of the continental land mass.
- It is also known as glaciations, stadials, and so forth.
TRIGGERS TO GLACIATION
- There are numerous reasons why glaciation occurs; the most significant can be divided into three categories: astronomical, atmospheric, and terrestrial.
Astronomical
- The most common are ice ages caused by astronomical events.
- The Milankovitch Cycles are the three ways the Earth’s orbit around the sun changes over tens of thousands of years.
- The fluctuations in the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit are one of three elements that govern the Milankotich cycle.
- The direction of Earth’s orbit around the sun ultimately influences how much sunlight and radiation hits the Earth’s surface and is the driving force behind seasonal fluctuations.
- The eccentricity of Earth’s orbit fluctuates very little over 105,000 years, but it is enough to cause ice sheets to grow and melt.
Atmospheric
- Atmospheric-induced ice ages are caused by either too much or too little greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (CO2).
- Too little CO2 causes the atmosphere to be unable to trap heat and warm the Earth’s surface, resulting in significant global temperature drops.
- Furthermore, a significant volcanic eruption can send aerosols into the sky, which, once suspended in the atmosphere for a lengthy period of time, reflect sunlight and gradually cool the Earth’s surface.
Terrestrial
- Plate tectonic movement disrupting meteorological patterns causes terrestrial-induced ice ages.
- When continents migrate, warm currents from the tropics are prevented from reaching the poles, massive glaciers form, and an ice age develops.
EFFECTS OF GLACIAL EROSION AND DEPOSITION
- Glaciers are massive moving masses of ice that have a direct impact on the environment in a variety of ways.
- Glacial erosion is eroding and modifying the terrain beneath a moving glacier.
- As a glacier moves across the Earth’s surface, it picks up boulders and dirt, which adhere to its belly and accompany it.
- These particles shred the bedrock below like sandpaper. The removal of rocks and the grinding of bedrock result in entirely new landscapes.
- Glacial erosion creates some of the most beautiful rock forms in mountainous areas, such as glacial horns with sharp, angular summits and cirques with round hollows and steep slopes.
- Glaciers hollowed out basins beneath bedrock that filled with water, forming millions of lakes that still exist today.
- Glaciers transformed many of the classic V-shaped valleys between the mountains into U-shaped valleys with broad valley floors.
- One indirect effect is the formation of pluvial lakes, which were once enormous due to excessive rainfall caused by glaciers. It may help you remember this concept if you know that the word ‘pluvial’ implies rain in Latin.
- So pluvial lakes arose due to highly intense rainfall, but there’s a catch: pluvial lakes formed in deserts.
- Another unintended consequence of ice age glaciers is a phenomenon known as isostatic depression.
- The Earth’s crust sinks due to pressure from a large weight. During an ice age, this enormous weight is represented by glaciers. Isostatic depression occurs when you lie down on a mattress, and it compresses or depresses under your weight.
- When the glacier melts, the Earth’s crust rebounds, much like your mattress does when you get out of bed in the morning. Of course, your mattress returns to its original shape quickly, whereas the Earth’s rebound takes millions of years.
- Another significant indirect influence is the sea-level shift caused by the growth and melting of ice-age glaciers.
- We must remember that glaciers are frozen bodies of water. Water that previously filled seas converted to ice during the extended cold of the ice ages.
- This resulted in a dip in sea level during the ice ages and the discovery of massive land bridges, such as the Alaska-Siberia bridge.
- Some ice is still trapped in glaciers today, with modern glaciers spanning roughly 10% of the globe.
- If the remaining glaciers melted tomorrow, the sea level would climb 215 feet or more than 21 stories.
Ice Age Worksheets
This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the Ice Age and ready-to-use worksheets across 33 in-depth pages. An ice age is a long period of cooling the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or extension of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers.
Complete List of Included Worksheets
Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.
- Ice Age Facts
- Fact or Bluff
- The Early Humans
- Shaping Landscapes
- Icy Misconceptions
- Frozen Search
- A Frozen History
- Ice Age Creatures
- Fossil Excavation Expedition
- nICE Qualities
- Chilling Recreation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Ice Age?
The Ice Age refers to a long period of time in Earth’s history when large parts of the planet’s surface were covered by ice sheets and glaciers. It’s characterized by colder temperatures and extensive ice cover.
What caused the Ice Age?
The Ice Age was primarily caused by variations in Earth’s orbit and axial tilt, collectively known as Milankovitch cycles. These cycles affect the amount and distribution of solar energy Earth receives, leading to periods of cooling and glaciation.
When did the last Ice Age occur?
The most recent period of glaciation within the Ice Age is known as the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which occurred around 26,000 to 19,000 years ago. During this time, large ice sheets covered much of North America, Europe, and Asia.
How did the Ice Age impact flora and fauna?
The Ice Age had a significant impact on both plant and animal life. Many species adapted to the cold climate, and some migrated to warmer regions. The changing landscapes due to advancing and retreating ice sheets led to the evolution of new species and the extinction of others.
What evidence supports the existence of the Ice Age?
There is a wealth of evidence for the Ice Age, including glacial landforms (moraines, eskers), glacially transported rocks (erratics), ancient pollen records, and ice core samples that contain climate information. Additionally, the presence of large ice sheets left distinct marks on the Earth’s surface.
Link/cite this page
If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.
Link will appear as Ice Age Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, March 3, 2017
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.