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in the holocene its half life is too short for practical use in pleistocene dating instead geologists use marine isotope stages derived from oxygen isotopes to date materials deposited in the pleistocene deposits edit pleistocene non marine sediments are found primarily in fluvial deposits lakebeds slope and loess deposits as well as in the large amounts of material moved about by glaciers less common are cave deposits travertines and volcanic deposits lavas ashes pleistocene marine deposits are found primarily in shallow marine basins mostly but with important exceptions in areas within a few tens of kilometres of the modern shoreline in a few geologically active areas such as the southern california coast pleistocene marine deposits may be found at elevations of several hundred metres paleogeography and climate edit the maximum extent of glacial ice in the north polar area during the pleistocene period the modern continents were essentially at their present positions during the pleistocene the plates upon which they sit probably having moved no more than 100 km 62 mi relative to each other since the beginning of the period in glacial periods the sea level would drop by up to 120 m 390 ft lower than today 21 during peak glaciation exposing large areas of the present continental shelf as dry land according to mark lynas through collected data the pleistocene s overall climate could be characterised as a continuous el niño with trade winds in the south pacific weakening or heading east warm air rising near peru warm water spreading from the west pacific and the indian ocean to the east pacific and other el niño markers 22 glacial features edit this section needs more citations please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed september 2018 learn how and when to remove this message pleistocene climate was marked by repeated glacial cycles in which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places it is estimated that at maximum glacial extent 30 of the earth s surface was covered by ice in addition a zone of permafrost stretched southward from the edge of the glacial sheet a few hundred kilometres in north america and several hundred in eurasia the mean annual temperature at the edge of the ice was 6 c 21 f at the edge of the permafrost 0 c 32 f each glacial advance tied up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets 1 500 to 3 000 metres 4 900 9 800 ft thick resulting in temporary sea level drops of 100 metres 300 ft or more over the entire surface of the earth during interglacial times such as at present drowned coastlines were common mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions the effects of glaciation were global antarctica was ice bound throughout the pleistocene as well as the preceding pliocene the andes were covered in the south by the patagonian ice cap there were glaciers in new zealand and tasmania the current decaying glaciers of mount kenya mount kilimanjaro and the ruwenzori range in east and central africa were larger glaciers existed in the mountains of ethiopia and to the west in the atlas mountains in the northern hemisphere many glaciers fused into one the cordilleran ice sheet covered the north american northwest the east was covered by the laurentide the fenno scandian ice sheet rested on northern europe including much of great britain the alpine ice sheet on the alps scattered domes stretched across siberia and the arctic shelf the northern seas were ice covered south of the ice sheets large lakes accumulated because outlets were blocked and the cooler air slowed evaporation when the laurentide ice sheet retreated north central north america was completely covered by lake agassiz over a hundred basins now dry or nearly so were overflowing in the north american west lake bonneville for example stood where great salt lake now does in eurasia large lakes developed as a result of the runoff from the glaciers rivers were larger had a more copious flow and were braided african lakes were fuller apparently from decreased evaporation deserts on the other hand were drier and more extensive rainfall was lower because of the decreases in oceanic and other evaporation it has been estimated that during the pleistocene the east antarctic ice sheet thinned by at least 500 metres and that thinning since the last glacial maximum is less than 50 metres and probably started after c 14 ka 23 major events edit further information timeline of glaciation ice ages as reflected in atmospheric co 2 stored in the bubbles from glacial ice of antarctica during the 2 5 million years of the pleistocene numerous cold phases called glacials quaternary ice age or significant advances of continental ice sheets in europe and north america occurred at intervals of approximately 40 000 to 100 000 years the long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials which lasted about 10 000 15 000 years the last cold episode of the last glacial period ended about 10 000 years ago 24 over 11 major glacial events have been identified as well as many minor glacial events 25 a major glacial event is a general glacial excursion termed a glacial glacials are separated by interglacials during a glacial the glacier experiences minor advances and retreats the minor excursion is a stadial times between stadials are interstadials these events are defined differently in different regions of the glacial range which have their own glacial history depending on latitude terrain and climate there is a general correspondence between glacials in different regions investigators often interchange the names if the glacial geology of a region is in the process of being defined however it is generally incorrect to apply the name of a glacial in one region to another for most of the 20th century only a few regions had been studied and the names were relatively few today the geologists of different nations are taking more of an interest in pleistocene glaciology as a consequence the number of names is expanding rapidly and will continue to expand many of the advances and stadials remain unnamed also the terrestrial evidence for some of them has been erased or obscured by larger ones but evidence remains from the study of cyclical climate changes the glacials in the following tables show historical usages are a simplification of a much more complex cycle of variation in climate and terrain and are generally no longer used the headings glacial 1 to glacial 4 are designations indicating the four most recent glacials with glacial 4 being the most recent these names have been abandoned in favour of numeric data because many of the correlations were found to be either inexact or incorrect and more than four major glacials have been recognised since the historical terminology was established 25 26 27 historical names of the four major glacials in four regions region glacial 1 glacial 2 glacial 3 glacial 4 alps günz mindel riss würm north europe eburonian elsterian saalian weichselian british isles beestonian anglian wolstonian devensian midwest u s nebraskan kansan illinoian wisconsinan historical names of interglacials region interglacial 1 interglacial 2 interglacial 3 alps günz mindel mindel riss riss würm north europe waalian holsteinian eemian british isles cromerian hoxnian ipswichian midwest u s aftonian yarmouthian sangamonian corresponding to the terms glacial and interglacial the terms pluvial and interpluvial are in use latin pluvia rain a pluvial is a warmer period of increased rainfall an interpluvial is of decreased rainfall formerly a pluvial was thought to correspond to a glacial in regions not iced and in some cases it does rainfall is cyclical also pluvials and interpluvials are widespread there is no systematic correspondence between pluvials to glacials however moreover regional pluvials do not correspond to each other globally for example some have used the term riss pluvial in egyptian contexts any coincidence is an accident of regional factors only a few of the names for pluvials in restricted regions have been stratigraphically defined palaeocycles edit map of earth as it appeared 1 million years ago during the pleistocene epoch calabrian stage the sum of transient factors acting at the earth s surface is cyclical climate ocean currents and other movements wind currents temperature etc the waveform response comes from the underlying cyclical motions of the planet which eventually drag all the transients into harmony with them the repeated glaciations of the pleistocene were caused by the same factors the mid pleistocene transition approximately one million years ago saw a change from low amplitude glacial cycles with a dominant periodicity of 41 000 years to asymmetric high amplitude cycles dominated by a periodicity of 100 000 years 28 however a 2020 study concluded that ice age terminations might have been influenced by obliquity since the mid pleistocene transition which caused stronger summers in the northern hemisphere 29 milankovitch cycles edit main article milankovitch cycles glaciation in the pleistocene was a series of glacials and interglacials stadials and interstadials mirroring periodic climate changes the main factor at work in climate cycling is now believed to be milankovitch cycles these are periodic variations in regional and planetary solar radiation reaching the earth caused by several repeating changes in the earth s motion the effects of milankovitch cycles were enhanced by various positive feedbacks related to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and earth s albedo 30 milankovitch cycles cannot be the sole factor responsible for the variations in climate since they explain neither the long term cooling trend over the plio pleistocene nor the millennial variations in the greenland ice cores known as dansgaard oeschger events and heinrich events milankovitch pacing seems to best explain glaciation events with periodicity of 100 000 40 000 and 20 000 years such a pattern seems to fit the information on climate change found in oxygen isotope cores oxygen isotope ratio cycles edit main article oxygen isotope ratio cycle this section does not cite any sources please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed april 2026 learn how and when to remove this message in oxygen isotope ratio analysis variations in the ratio of 18 o to 16 o two isotopes of oxygen by mass measured by a mass spectrometer present in the calcite of oceanic core samples is used as a diagnostic of ancient ocean temperature change and therefore of climate change cold oceans are richer in 18 o which is included in the tests of the microorganisms foraminifera contributing the calcite a more recent version of the sampling process makes use of modern glacial ice cores although less rich in 18 o than seawater the snow that fell on the glacier year by year nevertheless contained 18 o and 16 o in a ratio that depended on the mean annual temperature temperature and climate change are cyclical when plotted on a graph of temperature versus time temperature coordinates are given in the form of a deviation from today s annual mean temperature taken as zero this sort of graph is based on another isotope ratio versus time ratios are converted to a percentage difference from the ratio found in standard mean ocean water smow the graph in either form appears as a waveform with overtones one half of a period is a marine isotopic stage mis it indicates a glacial below zero or an interglacial above zero overtones are stadials or interstadials according to this evidence earth experienced 102 mis stages beginning at about 2 588 ma bp in the early pleistocene gelasian early pleistocene stages were shallow and frequent the latest were the most intense and most widely spaced by convention stages are numbered from the holocene which is mis1 glacials receive an even number and interglacials receive an odd number the first major glacial was mis2 4 at about 85 11 ka bp the largest glacials were 2 6 12 and 16 the warmest interglacials were 1 5 9 and 11 for matching of mis numbers to named stages see under the articles for those names fauna edit see also quaternary extinction event both marine and continental faunas were essentially modern but with many more large land mammals such as mammoths mastodons diprotodons smilodons tigers lions aurochs short faced bears giant sloths species within gigantopithecus and others isolated landmasses such as australia madagascar new zealand and islands in the pacific saw the evolution of large birds and even reptiles such as the elephant bird moa haast s eagle quinkana megalania and meiolania the start of the pleistocene coincided with a significant acceleration of a drop in ungulate functional diversity around 2 5 ma that had been occurring since the late miocene likely as a result of the start of bipolar glaciation and consequent global aridification 31 the severe climatic changes during the ice age had major impacts on the fauna and flora with each advance of the ice large areas of the continents became depopulated and plants and animals retreating southwards in front of the advancing glacier faced tremendous stress the most severe stress resulted from drastic climatic changes reduced living space and curtailed food supply a major extinction event of large mammals megafauna which included mammoths mastodons saber toothed cats glyptodons the woolly rhinoceros various giraffids such as the sivatherium ground sloths irish elk cave lions cave bears gomphotheres american lions dire wolves and short faced bears began late in the pleistocene and continued into the holocene neanderthals also became extinct during this period at the end of the last ice age cold blooded animals smaller mammals like wood mice migratory birds and swifter animals like whitetail deer had replaced the megafauna and migrated north late pleistocene bighorn sheep were more slender and had longer legs than their descendants today scientists believe that the change in predator fauna after the late pleistocene extinctions resulted in a change of body shape as the species adapted for increased power rather than speed 32 the extinctions hardly affected africa but were especially severe in north america where native horses and camels were wiped out various schemes for subdividing the pleistocene asian land mammal ages alma include zhoukoudianian nihewanian and yushean european land mammal ages elma include the villafranchian galerian and aurelian north american land mammal ages nalma include blancan 4 75 1 8 irvingtonian 1 8 0 24 and rancholabrean 0 24 0 01 in millions of years the blancan extends significantly back into the pliocene south american land mammal ages salma include uquian 2 5 1 5 ensenadan 1 5 0 3 and lujanian 0 3 0 01 in millions of years the uquian p...