Most people have heard of the “Ice Age” in which Connecticut(and most of northern North America) was covered by great sheets ofice, or glaciers.
To learn more about glaciers in general, check out this GlacierWeb Site from Rice University.The Ice Age in New England probably began 2 or 3 million yearsago, but there were several — at least two and probably more –times when the ice receded back into Canada, to be followed by newadvances. Evidence concerning older ice advances is scanty, becausemost of their land features and glacial sediments have beendestroyed by the later advances. However, there are a few locationswhere two or three layers of glacial gravel each record differentice movement directions, as shown by different orientations ofelongated cobbles and pebbles in the layers. Each of these layersmight record different episodes or advances of ice. The most recentadvance came through about 24,000 years ago (Lowell and Dorion,2001), and that ice sheet spread rapidly as far as the southernedge of Long Island, and also far out into the present Gulf ofMaine. Because it has been only 13,000 years or so since the iceleft in the last recession, some people think the Ice Age might notbe over, and that the great glaciers could advance once againwithin a few thousand years (see this news release). Suchblocks of time are only the blink of a geologist’s eye in the greatcalendar of earth events.
To learn more about glaciers in general, check out this GlacierWeb Site from Rice University.The Ice Age in New England probably began 2 or 3 million yearsago, but there were several — at least two and probably more –times when the ice receded back into Canada, to be followed by newadvances. Evidence concerning older ice advances is scanty, becausemost of their land features and glacial sediments have beendestroyed by the later advances. However, there are a few locationswhere two or three layers of glacial gravel each record differentice movement directions, as shown by different orientations ofelongated cobbles and pebbles in the layers. Each of these layersmight record different episodes or advances of ice. The most recentadvance came through about 24,000 years ago (Lowell and Dorion,2001), and that ice sheet spread rapidly as far as the southernedge of Long Island, and also far out into the present Gulf ofMaine. Because it has been only 13,000 years or so since the iceleft in the last recession, some people think the Ice Age might notbe over, and that the great glaciers could advance once againwithin a few thousand years (see this news release). Suchblocks of time are only the blink of a geologist’s eye in the greatcalendar of earth events.
