What is the Last Glacial Maximum?
The Last Glacial Maximum was the time period about 20,000 years ago when the last glacial period was at its maximum extent and temperatures on the planet were lowest. Though the last glacial period lasted from 110,000 to between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago, it was most intense right before the end. During the Last Glacial Maximum, huge glaciers covered most of present-day Canada and the northern United States (Laurentide Ice Sheet), much of southern South America (Patagonian Ice Sheet), and large sectors of northern Europe and northwest Russia. The British Isles were almost completely under ice. Instead of the Baltic Sea, the area between Sweden and Norway would have been packed with gigantic glaciers, some as much as two miles thick. Because so much water was locked up in glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum, the world’s sea levels were lower by a factor of about 100 m (328 ft). This temporarily revealed large areas of land that are underwater today, such as Beringia (a large regi
