Ice Age Earth Late Quaternary Geology and Climate

"Ice Age Earth" is the first detailed review of global climate change in the Late Quaternary, combining a summary of research and a synthetic description. Alastair Dawson focuses on changes in the Earth's geology and climate between the last interglacial period and the final melting of the last great ice sheets 130,000 to 7,000 years ago. He describes the study of ocean sediments and ice cores and the value of these findings to the development of advance circulation models, with special emphasis given to regional variability in glacial history, the rapidity of past climate change, and the complexity of environmental responses to widespread deglaciation. Periglacial environments--as well as lakes, rivers, mires, volcanic and aeolian activity, and crustal and sea-level movement--are also considered.

Ice Age Earth provides the first detailed review of global environmental change in the Late Quaternary. Significant geological and climatic events are analysed within a review of glacial and periglacial history. The melting history of the last ice sheets reveals that complex, dynamic and catastrophic change occurred, change which affected the circulation of the atmosphere and oceans and the stability of the Earth's crust.

Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction 2. Ocean Sediments and Ice Cores 3. Ice Age Palaeoclimates and Computer Simulations 4. Glaciation History from the Last Interglacial to the Last Glacial Maximum 5. The Melting of the Last Great Ice Sheets 6. Ice Age Periglacial Environments 7. Lakes, Bogs and Mines 8. Rivers 9. Ice Age Aeolian Activity 10. Late Quarternary Volcanic Activity 11. Crustal and Sub-Crustal Effects 12. Late Quarternary Sea Level changes 13. Milankovitch Cycles and Late Quarternary Climate Change