Ice Age event. History of Ice Ages

1. How many ice ages were there?
2. How does the Ice Age relate to biblical history?
3. How much of the earth was covered with ice?
4. How long did the Ice Age last?
5. What do we know about frozen mammoths?
6. How did the Ice Age affect humanity?

We have clear evidence that there was an ice age in the history of the Earth. To this day we see its traces: glaciers and U-shaped valleys along which the glacier retreated. Evolutionists claim that there were several such periods, each lasting twenty to thirty million years (or so).

They were interspersed with relatively warm interglacial intervals, accounting for about 10% of the total time. The last ice age began two million years ago and ended eleven thousand years ago. Creationists, for their part, generally believe that the Ice Age began shortly after the Flood and lasted less than a thousand years. We will see later that the biblical story of the Flood offers a compelling explanation for this the only one ice age. For evolutionists, the explanation of any ice age is associated with great difficulties.

The oldest ice ages?

Based on the principle that the present is the key to understanding the past, evolutionists argue that there is evidence of early ice ages. However, the difference between the rocks of different geological systems and the landscape features of the present period is very large, and their similarity is insignificant3-5. Modern glaciers grind rock as they move and create sediments consisting of fragments of different sizes.

These conglomerates, called style or tillite, form a new breed. The abrasive action of rocks enclosed in the thickness of the glacier forms parallel grooves in the rocky base along which the glacier moves - the so-called striation. When the glacier melts slightly in summer, rock “dust” is released, which is washed into glacial lakes, and alternating coarse-grained and fine-grained layers are formed at their bottom (the phenomenon seasonal layering).

Sometimes a piece of ice with boulders frozen into it breaks off from a glacier or ice sheet, falls into such a lake and melts. This is why huge boulders are sometimes found in layers of fine-grained sediment at the bottom of glacial lakes. Many geologists argue that all these patterns are also observed in ancient rocks, and, therefore, not when there were other, earlier ice ages on earth. However there is whole line evidence that observational evidence has been misinterpreted.

Consequences present Ice Ages still exist today: first of all, these are the giant ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland, Alpine glaciers, and numerous changes in the shape of the landscape of glacial origin. Since we observe all these phenomena on modern Earth, it is obvious that the Ice Age began after the Flood. During the Ice Age, huge ice sheets covered Greenland, much of North America(up to the northern United States) and Northern Europe - from Scandinavia to England and Germany (see figure on pages 10-11).

On the tops of the North American Rocky Mountains, the European Alps and other mountain ranges, unmelting ice caps remain, and vast glaciers descend through the valleys almost to their very base. IN Southern Hemisphere covered with ice sheet most of Antarctica. Ice caps lie on the mountains of New Zealand, Tasmania and the highest peaks in southeastern Australia. There are still glaciers in the Southern Alps of New Zealand and the South American Andes, and in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales and Tasmania there are still glacially formed landscapes.

Almost all textbooks say that during the Ice Age the ice advanced and retreated at least four times, and between glaciations there were periods of warming (the so-called “interglacials”). Trying to discover the cyclical pattern of these processes, geologists suggested that more than twenty glaciations and interglacials occurred over two million years. However, the emergence of dense clay soils, old river terraces and other phenomena that are considered evidence of numerous glaciations are more legitimately considered as consequences of different phases the only one Ice Age that occurred after the Flood.

Ice Age and man

Never, even during periods of the most severe glaciations, did ice cover more than a third earth's surface. At the same time when glaciation occurred in the polar and temperate latitudes, they probably walked closer to the equator. heavy rains. They abundantly irrigated even those regions where today there are waterless deserts - the Sahara, Gobi, Arabia. Archaeological excavations have uncovered abundant evidence of abundant vegetation, extensive human activity, and complex irrigation systems in the now barren lands.

There is also evidence that throughout the Ice Age, people lived at the edge of the ice sheet in Western Europe - in particular, Neanderthals. Many anthropologists now recognize that some of the “beast-likeness” of the Neanderthals was largely due to diseases (rickets, arthritis) that plagued these people in the cloudy, cold and damp European climate of that time. Rickets was common due to poor nutrition and due to lack of sunlight to stimulate the synthesis of vitamin D, which is necessary for normal bone development.

With the exception of very unreliable dating methods (see. « What does radiocarbon dating show?» ), there is no reason to deny that Neanderthals could have been contemporaries of the civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Babylon, which flourished in southern latitudes. The idea that the ice age lasted seven hundred years is much more plausible than the hypothesis of two million years of glaciation.

The Great Flood is the reason for the Ice Age

In order for masses of ice to begin to accumulate on land, the oceans in temperate and polar latitudes must be much warmer than the earth's surface - especially in summer. Large amounts of water evaporate from the surface of warm oceans, which then moves towards land. On cold continents, most precipitation falls as snow rather than rain; In summer this snow melts. This allows ice to accumulate quickly. Evolutionary models that explain the Ice Age as "slow and gradual" processes are untenable. Long epoch theories speak of gradual cooling on Earth.

But such a cooling would not lead to an ice age at all. If the oceans gradually cooled at the same time as the land, then after a while it would become so cold that snow would no longer melt in the summer, and evaporation of water from the ocean surface would not provide enough snow to form massive ice sheets. The result of all this would not be an ice age, but the formation of a snowy (polar) desert.

But the Flood, described in the Bible, provided a very simple mechanism for the Ice Age. By the end of this global catastrophe, when hot underground waters poured into the antediluvian oceans, and a large amount of thermal energy was released into the water as a result of volcanic activity, the oceans were most likely warm. Ord and Vardiman show that just before the Ice Age, ocean waters were indeed warmer: this is evidenced by oxygen isotopes in the shells of tiny marine animals - foraminifera.

Volcanic dust and aerosols, which ended up in the air due to residual volcanic phenomena at the end of the Flood and after it, reflected solar radiation back into space, causing a general, especially summer, cooling on Earth.

Dust and aerosols gradually disappeared from the atmosphere, but volcanic activity that continued after the Flood replenished their reserves for hundreds of years. Evidence of continued and widespread volcanism is the large amount of volcanic rocks among the so-called Pleistocene sediments, which probably formed shortly after the Flood. Vardiman, using generally known information about the movement air masses, showed that warm post-Flood oceans, combined with cooling at the poles, caused strong convection currents in the atmosphere, which created a huge hurricane zone over most of the Arctic. It persisted for more than five hundred years, until the glacial maximum (see the next section).

Such a climate led to precipitation in polar latitudes large quantity snow masses that quickly glaciated and formed ice sheets. These shields first covered the land, and then, towards the end of the Ice Age, as the water cooled, they began to spread to the oceans.

How long did the Ice Age last?

Meteorologist Michael Ord calculated that it would take seven hundred years for the polar oceans to cool from a constant temperature of 30°C at the end of the Flood to today's temperature (averaging 40°C). It is this period that should be considered the duration of the ice age. Ice began to accumulate shortly after the Flood. About five hundred years later, the average temperature of the World Ocean dropped to 10 0 C, evaporation from its surface decreased significantly, and cloud cover thinned. The amount of volcanic dust in the atmosphere had also decreased by this time. As a result, the Earth's surface began to be warmed up more intensely by the sun's rays, and the ice sheets began to melt. Thus, the glacial maximum occurred five hundred years after the Flood.

It is interesting to note that references to this occur in the book of Job (37:9-10; 38:22-23, 29-30), which tells of events that most likely occurred at the end of the Ice Age. (Job lived in the land of Uz, and Uz was a descendant of Shem—Genesis 10:23—so most conservative Bible students believe that Job lived after the Babel but before Abraham.) God asked Job from the storm: “From whose belly comes the ice and the frost of heaven, who gives birth to it? The waters grow strong like a rock, and the surface of the deep freezes” (Job 38:29-30). These questions assume that Job knew, either directly or from historical/family traditions, what God was talking about.

These words probably refer to the climatic consequences of the Ice Age, now unnoticeable in the Middle East. In recent years, the theoretical length of the Ice Age has been greatly strengthened by the assertion that boreholes drilled into the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain many thousands of annual layers. These layers are clearly visible at the top of the boreholes and cores recovered from them, consistent with the last few thousand years—as would be expected if the layers represent annual snow deposition since the end of the Ice Age. Below, the so-called annual layers become less distinct, that is, most likely, they did not arise seasonally, but under the influence of other mechanisms - for example, individual hurricanes.

The burial and freezing of mammoth carcasses cannot be explained using uniformitarian/evolutionary hypotheses of a “slow and gradual” cooling over millennia and an equally gradual warming. But if frozen mammoths are a great mystery for evolutionists, then within the framework of the Flood/Ice Age theory this is easily explained. Michel Ord believes that the burial and freezing of mammoths occurred at the end of the post-Flood Ice Age.

Let us take into account that until the end of the Ice Age, the Arctic Ocean was warm enough that there were no ice sheets either on the surface of the water or in the coastal valleys; this ensured a fairly moderate climate in the coastal zone. It is important to note that the remains of mammoths in the nai large quantities are found in areas close to the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, while these animals lived much further south of the maximum distribution of ice sheets. Consequently, it was the distribution of ice sheets that determined the area of ​​mass death of mammoths.

Hundreds of years after the Flood, the waters of the oceans cooled noticeably, the humidity of the air above them decreased, and the coast of the Arctic Ocean turned into an area of ​​arid climate, which resulted in droughts. From under the melting ice sheets, land appeared, from which masses of sand and mud rose like a whirlwind, burying many mammoths alive. This explains the presence of carcasses in decomposed peat containing loess– silty sediments. Some mammoths were buried standing up. The subsequent cold snap froze the oceans and land again, causing the mammoths previously buried under sand and mud to freeze and remain in this form to this day.

The animals that descended from the Ark multiplied on Earth over several centuries. But some of them died out without surviving the Ice Age and global climate change. Some, including mammoths, died in the disasters that accompanied these changes. Following the end of the Ice Age, global precipitation patterns changed again, turning many areas into deserts - causing animal extinctions to continue. The Flood and the subsequent Ice Age, volcanic activity and desertification radically changed the appearance of the Earth and caused the depletion of its flora and fauna to current state. The surviving evidence best agrees with the biblical account of history.

Here's the Good News

Creation Ministries International is committed to glorifying and honoring God the Creator and affirming the truth that the Bible tells the true story of the origins of the world and man. Part of this story is the bad news of Adam's violation of God's command. This brought death, suffering and separation from God into the world. These results are known to everyone. All of Adam's descendants are afflicted with sin from the moment of conception (Psalm 50:7) and share in Adam's disobedience (sin). They can no longer be in the presence of the Holy God and are doomed to separation from Him. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and that all “shall suffer the punishment of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). But there is also good news: God did not remain indifferent to our misfortune. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16).

Jesus Christ, the Creator, being sinless, took upon Himself the guilt for the sins of all mankind and their consequences - death and separation from God. He died on the cross, but on the third day he rose again, having conquered death. And now everyone who sincerely believes in Him, repents of their sins and relies not on themselves, but on Christ, can return to God and remain in eternal communion with their Creator. “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”(John 3:18). Marvelous is our Savior and wonderful is salvation in Christ, our Creator!

Last Ice Age

During this era, 35% of the land was under ice cover (compared to 10% today).

The last ice age was not just a natural disaster. It is impossible to understand the life of planet Earth without taking these periods into account. In the intervals between them (known as interglacial periods), life flourished, but then once again the ice moved inexorably and brought death, but life did not completely disappear. Every Ice Age was marked by a struggle for survival different types, global climate changes were taking place, and in the last of them a new species appeared, which became (over time) dominant on Earth: it was man.
Ice Ages
Ice ages are geological periods characterized by strong cooling of the Earth, during which vast areas of the earth's surface were covered with ice, observed high level humidity and, naturally, exceptional cold, as well as the lowest known modern science sea ​​level. There is no generally accepted theory regarding the reasons for the onset of the Ice Age, but since the 17th century, a variety of explanations have been proposed. According to the current opinion, this phenomenon was not caused by one reason, but was the result of the influence of three factors.

Changes in the composition of the atmosphere - a different ratio of carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide) and methane - caused a sharp drop in temperature. It's like the opposite of what we now call global warming, but on a much larger scale.

The movements of the continents, caused by cyclic changes in the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and in addition the change in the angle of inclination of the planet’s axis relative to the Sun, also had an impact.

The land received less solar heat, it cooled, which led to glaciation.
The earth has experienced several ice ages. The largest glaciation occurred 950-600 million years ago during the Precambrian era. Then in the Miocene era - 15 million years ago.

Traces of glaciation that can be observed at the present time represent the legacy of the last two million years and belong to the Quaternary period. This period is best studied by scientists and is divided into four periods: Günz, Mindel (Mindel), Ries (Rise) and Würm. The latter corresponds to the last ice age.

Last Ice Age
The Würm stage of glaciation began approximately 100,000 years ago, peaked after 18 thousand years and began to decline after 8 thousand years. During this time, the thickness of the ice reached 350-400 km and covered a third of the land above sea level, in other words, three times the area than now. Based on the amount of ice that currently covers the planet, we can get some idea of ​​the extent of glaciation during that period: today, glaciers occupy 14.8 million km2, or about 10% of the earth's surface, and during the Ice Age they covered an area of ​​44 .4 million km2, which is 30% of the Earth's surface.

According to assumptions, in northern Canada, ice covered an area of ​​13.3 million km2, while now there is 147.25 km2 under ice. The same difference is noted in Scandinavia: 6.7 million km2 in that period compared to 3,910 km2 today.

The Ice Age occurred simultaneously in both hemispheres, although in the North the ice spread over larger areas. In Europe, the glacier covered most of the British Isles, northern Germany and Poland, and in North America, where the Würm glaciation is called the “Wisconsin Ice Age,” a layer of ice that descended from the North Pole covered all of Canada and spread south of the Great Lakes. Like the lakes in Patagonia and the Alps, they were formed on the site of depressions left after the melting of the ice mass.

The sea level dropped by almost 120 m, as a result of which large areas were exposed that are currently covered sea ​​water. The significance of this fact is enormous, since large-scale migrations of humans and animals became possible: hominids were able to make the transition from Siberia to Alaska and move from continental Europe to England. It is quite possible that during interglacial periods, the two largest ice masses on Earth - Antarctica and Greenland - have undergone slight changes throughout history.

At the peak of glaciation, the average temperature drop varied significantly depending on the area: 100 °C in Alaska, 60 °C in England, 20 °C in the tropics and remained virtually unchanged at the equator. Studies of the last glaciations in North America and Europe, which occurred during the Pleistocene era, gave similar results in this geological area within the last two (approximately) million years.

The last 100,000 years are of particular importance to understanding human evolution. Ice ages became a severe test for the inhabitants of the Earth. After the end of the next glaciation, they again had to adapt and learn to survive. When the climate became warmer, sea levels rose, new forests and plants appeared, and the land rose, freed from the pressure of the ice shell.

Hominids had the most natural resources to adapt to changing conditions. They were able to move to areas with the greatest amount of food resources, where the slow process of their evolution began.
It’s not expensive to buy children’s shoes wholesale in Moscow

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1.8 million years ago, the Quaternary (anthropogenic) period of the geological history of the earth began and continues to this day.

River basins expanded. There was a rapid development of the mammal fauna, especially mastodons (which would later become extinct, like many other ancient animal species), ungulates and great apes. During this geological period in the history of the earth, man appears (hence the word anthropogenic in the name of this geological period).

The Quaternary period marks a sharp change in climate throughout the European part of Russia. From warm and humid Mediterranean, it turned into moderately cold, and then into cold Arctic. This led to glaciation. Ice accumulated on the Scandinavian Peninsula, in Finland, on the Kola Peninsula and spread to the south.

The Oksky glacier with its southern edge covered the territory of the modern Kashira region, including our region. The first glaciation was the coldest; tree vegetation in the Oka region disappeared almost completely. The glacier did not last long. The first Quaternary glaciation reached the Oka valley, which is why it received the name “Oka glaciation”. The glacier left moraine deposits dominated by boulders of local sedimentary rocks.

But such favorable conditions were again replaced by a glacier. Glaciation was on a planetary scale. The grandiose Dnieper glaciation began. The thickness of the Scandinavian ice sheet reached 4 kilometers. The glacier moved through the Baltic to Western Europe and the European part of Russia. The boundaries of the tongues of the Dnieper glaciation passed in the area of ​​modern Dnepropetrovsk and almost reached Volgograd.

Mammoth fauna

The climate warmed again and became Mediterranean. In place of the glaciers, heat-loving and moisture-loving vegetation has spread: oak, beech, hornbeam and yew, as well as linden, alder, birch, spruce and pine, and hazel. Ferns, characteristic of modern South America, grew in the swamps. Perestroika has begun river system and the formation of Quaternary terraces in river valleys. This period was called the interglacial Oka-Dnieper age.

The Oka served as a kind of barrier to the advancement of ice fields. According to scientists, the right bank of the Oka, i.e. our region has not turned into a continuous icy desert. Here there were fields of ice, alternating with intervals of thawed hills, between which rivers of meltwater flowed and lakes accumulated.

Ice flows of the Dnieper glaciation brought glacial boulders from Finland and Karelia to our region.

The valleys of old rivers were filled with mid-moraine and fluvioglacial deposits. It became warmer again, and the glacier began to melt. Streams of meltwater rushed south along the beds of new rivers. During this period, third terraces are formed in river valleys. In the depressions formed big lakes. The climate was moderately cold.

Our region was dominated by forest-steppe vegetation with a predominance of coniferous and birch forests and large areas of steppes covered with wormwood, quinoa, cereals and forbs.

The interstadial era was short. The glacier returned to the Moscow region again, but did not reach the Oka, stopping not far from the southern outskirts of modern Moscow. Therefore, this third glaciation was called the Moscow glaciation. Some tongues of the glacier reached the Oka valley, but they did not reach the territory of the modern Kashira region. The climate was harsh, and the landscape of our region is becoming close to the steppe tundra. Forests are almost disappearing and steppes are taking their place.

A new warming has arrived. The rivers deepened their valleys again. Second river terraces were formed, and the hydrography of the Moscow region changed. It was during that period that the modern valley and basin of the Volga, which flows into the Caspian Sea, was formed. The Oka, and with it our river B. Smedva and its tributaries, entered the Volga river basin.

This interglacial period in climate went through stages from continental temperate (close to modern) to warm, with a Mediterranean climate. In our region, at first birches, pine and spruce dominated, and then heat-loving oaks, beeches and hornbeams began to turn green again. In the swamps grew the Brasia water lily, which today can only be found in Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam. At the end of the interglacial period, birch-coniferous forests again dominated.

This idyll was spoiled by the Valdai glaciation. Ice from the Scandinavian Peninsula again rushed south. This time the glacier did not reach the Moscow region, but changed our climate to subarctic. For many hundreds of kilometers, including through the territory of the present Kashira district and the rural settlement of Znamenskoye, the steppe-tundra stretches, with dried grass and sparse shrubs, dwarf birches and polar willows. These conditions were ideal for the mammoth fauna and for primitive man, who then already lived on the boundaries of the glacier.

During the last Valdai glaciation, the first river terraces were formed. The hydrography of our region has finally taken shape.

Traces of ice ages are often found in the Kashira region, but they are difficult to identify. Of course, large stone boulders are traces of glacial activity of the Dnieper glaciation. They were brought by ice from Scandinavia, Finland and the Kola Peninsula. The oldest traces of a glacier are moraine or boulder loam, which is a disordered mixture of clay, sand, and brown stones.

The third group of glacial rocks are sands resulting from the destruction of moraine layers by water. These are sands with large pebbles and stones and homogeneous sands. They can be observed on the Oka. These include Belopesotsky Sands. Often found in the valleys of rivers, streams, and ravines, layers of flint and limestone rubble are traces of the beds of ancient rivers and streams.

With the new warming, the geological epoch of the Holocene began (it began 11 thousand 400 years ago), which continues to this day. The modern river floodplains were finally formed. The mammoth fauna became extinct, and forests appeared in place of the tundra (first spruce, then birch, and later mixed). The flora and fauna of our region has acquired modern features - the one we see today. At the same time, the left and right banks of the Oka still differ greatly in their forest cover. If the right bank is dominated by mixed forests and many open areas, the left bank is dominated by continuous coniferous forests - these are traces of glacial and interglacial climate changes. On our bank of the Oka, the glacier left fewer traces and our climate was somewhat milder than on the left bank of the Oka.

Geological processes continue today. The earth's crust in the Moscow region has been rising only slightly over the past 5 thousand years, at a rate of 10 cm per century. The modern alluvium of the Oka and other rivers of our region is being formed. What this will lead to after millions of years, we can only guess, because, having briefly become acquainted with the geological history of our region, we can safely repeat the Russian proverb: “Man proposes, but God disposes.” This saying is especially relevant after we have become convinced in this chapter that human history is a grain of sand in the history of our planet.

GLACIAL PERIOD

In distant, distant times, where Leningrad, Moscow, and Kyiv are now, everything was different. Dense forests grew along the banks of ancient rivers, and shaggy mammoths with curved tusks, huge hairy rhinoceroses, tigers and bears much larger than today roamed there.

Gradually it became colder and colder in these places. Far in the north, so much snow fell every year that entire mountains accumulated it - larger than the present-day Ural Mountains. The snow compacted, turned into ice, then began to slowly, slowly creep away, spreading in all directions.

Ice mountains have moved into the ancient forests. Cold, angry winds blew from these mountains, the trees froze and animals fled south from the cold. And the ice mountains crawled further to the south, turning out rocks along the way and moving entire hills of earth and stones in front of them. They crawled to the place where Moscow now stands, and crawled even further, to warm southern countries. They reached the hot Volga steppe and stopped.

Here, finally, the sun overpowered them: the glaciers began to melt. Huge rivers flowed from them. And the ice retreated, melted, and the masses of stones, sand and clay that the glaciers brought remained lying in the southern steppes.

More than once, terrible ice mountains have approached from the north. Have you seen the cobblestone street? Such small stones were brought by the glacier. And there are boulders as big as a house. They still lie in the north.

But the ice may move again. Just not soon. Maybe thousands of years will pass. And not only the sun will then fight the ice. If necessary, people will use ATOMIC ENERGY and prevent the glacier from entering our land.

When did the Ice Age end?

Many of us believe that the Ice Age ended a long time ago and no traces of it remain. But geologists say we are only approaching the end of the Ice Age. And the people of Greenland are still living in the Ice Age.

Approximately 25 thousand years ago, the peoples who inhabited the central part of NORTH AMERICA saw ice and snow all year round. A huge wall of ice stretched from Tikhoy to Atlantic Ocean, and to the north - all the way to the pole. This was during the final stages of the Ice Age, when all of Canada, most of the United States and northwestern Europe were covered in a layer of ice more than one kilometer thick.

But this does not mean that it was always very cold. In the northern part of the United States, temperatures were only 5 degrees lower than today. The cold summer months caused an ice age. At this time, the heat was not enough to melt the ice and snow. It accumulated and eventually covered the entire northern part of these areas.

The Ice Age consisted of four stages. At the beginning of each of them, ice formed moving south, then melted and retreated to the NORTH POLE. This happened, it is believed, four times. Cold periods are called “glaciations”, warm periods are called “interglacial” periods.

The first stage in North America is thought to have begun about two million years ago, the second about 1,250,000 years ago, the third about 500,000 years ago, and the last about 100,000 years ago.

The rate of ice melting during the last stage of the Ice Age was different in different areas. For example, in the area where the modern state of Wisconsin is located in the USA, the melting of ice began approximately 40,000 years ago. The ice that covered the New England region of the United States disappeared about 28,000 years ago. And the territory of the modern state of Minnesota was released by ice only 15,000 years ago!

In Europe, Germany became ice-free 17,000 years ago, and Sweden only 13,000 years ago.

Why do glaciers still exist today?

The huge mass of ice that began the Ice Age in North America was called the “continental glacier”: in the very center its thickness reached 4.5 km. This glacier may have formed and melted four times during the entire Ice Age.

The glacier that covered other parts of the world did not melt in some places! For example, the huge island of Greenland is still covered by a continental glacier, except for a narrow coastal strip. In its middle part, the glacier sometimes reaches a thickness of more than three kilometers. Antarctica is also covered by an extensive continental glacier, with ice up to 4 kilometers thick in some places!

So the reason why in some areas globe There are glaciers, is that they have not melted since the Ice Age. But the bulk of the glaciers found today were formed recently. They are mainly located in mountain valleys.

They originate in wide, gentle, amphitheatrically shaped valleys. Snow gets here from the slopes as a result of landslides and avalanches. Such snow does not melt in the summer, becoming deeper every year.

Gradually, pressure from above, some thawing, and refreezing remove air from the bottom of this snow mass, turning it into solid ice. The impact of the weight of the entire mass of ice and snow compresses the entire mass and causes it to move down the valley. This moving tongue of ice is a mountain glacier.

In Europe, more than 1,200 such glaciers are known in the Alps! They also exist in the Pyrenees, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, and also in the mountains of southern Asia. There are tens of thousands of similar glaciers in southern Alaska, some 50 to 100 km long!

By the time the last ice age arrived, evolution had already “invented” mammals. The animals that decided to breed and reproduce during the Ice Age were quite large and covered in fur. Scientists gave them the common name "megafauna" because they managed to survive the Ice Age. However, since other, less cold-resistant species could not survive it, the megafauna felt quite good.

Megafaunal herbivores are accustomed to foraging in icy environments, adapting to their surroundings in a variety of ways. For example, Ice Age rhinoceroses may have had a shovel-shaped horn for removing snow. Predators like saber-toothed tigers, short-faced bears and direwolves (yes, the wolves from Game of Thrones actually once existed) also adapted to their environment. Although times were cruel, and the prey could very well turn predator into prey, there was plenty of meat in it.

Ice Age people

Despite the relatively small size and small hair, Homo sapiens survived in the cold tundra of ice ages for thousands of years. Life was cold and difficult, but people were resourceful. For example, 15,000 years ago, Ice Age people lived in hunter-gatherer tribes, building comfortable homes from mammoth bones and making warm clothing from animal fur. When there was plenty of food, they stored it in the natural refrigerators of permafrost.

Since hunting tools at that time consisted mainly of stone knives and arrowheads, sophisticated weapons were rare. People used traps to capture and kill the huge Ice Age animals. When an animal fell into a trap, people attacked it in a group and beat it to death.

Little Ice Ages

Sometimes small ice ages occurred between large and long ones. They were not as destructive, but could still cause famine and disease due to failed harvests and other side effects.

The most recent of these small ice ages began sometime between the 12th and 14th centuries and peaked between 1500 and 1850. For hundreds of years in the northern hemisphere, the cold weather. In Europe, the seas regularly froze, and mountainous countries(for example, Switzerland) could only watch as the glaciers moved, destroying villages. There were years without summer, but nasty ones weather influenced every aspect of life and culture (perhaps this is why the Middle Ages seem dark to us).

Science is still trying to figure out what caused this minor ice age. Possible causes include a combination of severe volcanic activity and temporary decline solar energy Sun.

Warm Ice Age

Some ice ages may have been quite warm. The ground was covered with a huge amount of ice, but in fact the weather was quite pleasant.

Sometimes the events that lead to an ice age are so severe that even if greenhouse gases(which trap heat from the sun in the atmosphere, warming the planet), ice still continues to form because if there is a thick enough layer of pollution, it will reflect the sun's rays back into space. Experts say this would turn the Earth into a giant Baked Alaska dessert - cold on the inside (ice on the surface) and warm on the outside (warm atmosphere).

The man whose name recalls the famous tennis player was in fact a respected scientist, one of the geniuses who defined the scientific milieu of the 19th century. He is considered one of the founding fathers of American science, although he was French.

Among many other achievements, it is thanks to Agassiz that we know at least something about the ice ages. Although this idea had been touched upon by many before, in 1837 the scientist became the first person to seriously introduce ice ages into science. His theories and publications on the ice fields that covered most of the earth were foolishly rejected when the author first presented them. Nevertheless, he did not renounce his words, and further research ultimately led to the recognition of his “crazy theories.”

It is noteworthy that his pioneering work on ice ages and glacial activity was a simple hobby. By occupation he was an ichthyologist (studying fish).

Man-made pollution prevented the next ice age

Theories that ice ages recur on a semi-regular basis, no matter what we do, often conflict with theories about global warming. While the latter are certainly authoritative, some believe that it is global warming that may be useful in the future fight against glaciers.

Carbon dioxide emissions caused by human activities are considered a significant part of the global warming problem. However they have one strange one by-effect. According to researchers from the University of Cambridge, CO2 emissions may be able to stop the next ice age. How? Although the Earth's planetary cycle is constantly trying to initiate an ice age, it will only begin if carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are extremely low. By pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, humans may have inadvertently made ice ages temporarily unavailable.

And even if concerns about global warming (which is also very bad) force people to reduce their CO2 emissions, there is still time. We've currently sent so much carbon dioxide into the sky that an ice age won't start for at least 1,000 years.

Ice Age Plants

Predators had it relatively easy during the Ice Ages. After all, they could always eat someone else. But what did the herbivores eat?

It turns out that everything they wanted. In those days there were many plants that could survive the Ice Age. Even in the coldest times, steppe-meadow and tree-shrub areas remained, which allowed mammoths and other herbivores not to die of hunger. These pastures were full of plant species that thrive in cold, dry weather - such as spruce and pine. In warmer areas, birch and willow trees were abundant. In general, the climate at that time was very similar to Siberian. Although the plants were most likely seriously different from their modern counterparts.

All of the above does not mean that the ice ages did not destroy some of the vegetation. If a plant could not adapt to the climate, it could only migrate through seeds or disappear. Australia once had the longest lists of diverse plants, until glaciers destroyed a good portion of them.

The Himalayas may have caused an ice age

Mountains, as a rule, are not famous for actively causing anything other than occasional collapses - they just stand there and stand there. The Himalayas may disprove this belief. They may be directly responsible for causing the Ice Age.

When the landmasses of India and Asia collided 40-50 million years ago, the collision grew massive rock ridges into the Himalayan mountain range. This brought out a huge amount of “fresh” stone. Then the process of chemical erosion began, which removes significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over time. And this, in turn, could affect the planet's climate. The atmosphere "cooled" and caused an ice age.

Snowball Earth

During most ice ages, ice sheets cover only part of the world. Even a particularly severe ice age is believed to have covered only about one-third of the globe.

What is “Snowball Earth”? The so-called Snowball Earth.

Snowball Earth is chilling"grandfather" of ice ages. It's a complete freezer that literally froze every bit of the planet's surface until the Earth froze into a huge snowball floating through space. What little was able to survive the complete freeze either clung to rare places with relatively little ice or, in the case of plants, clung to places where there was enough sunlight for photosynthesis.

According to some sources, this event occurred at least once, 716 million years ago. But there could be more than one such period.

Garden of Eden

Some scientists seriously believe that that same Garden of Eden was real. They say it was in Africa and was the only reason our ancestors survived the Ice Age.

Just under 200,000 years ago, a particularly hostile Ice Age was killing off species left and right. Fortunately, a small group of early humans were able to survive the terrible cold. They came across the coast that is now South Africa. Even though ice was taking its toll all over the world, this zone remained ice-free and completely habitable. Its soil was rich in nutrients and provided plenty of food. There were many natural caves that could be used for shelter. For a young species struggling to survive, it was nothing short of paradise.

The human population of the "Garden of Eden" numbered only a few hundred individuals. This theory is supported by many experts, but it still lacks conclusive evidence, including studies that show that humans have much less genetic diversity than most other species.

Russian scientists promise that an ice age will begin in the world in 2014. Vladimir Bashkin, head of the Gazprom VNIIGAZ laboratory, and Rauf Galiullin, an employee of the Institute of Fundamental Problems of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, argue that there will be no global warming. According to scientists, warm winters– a consequence of the cyclical activity of the sun and cyclical climate change. This warming has continued from the 18th century to the present, and from next year the Earth will begin to cool again.

The Little Ice Age will come gradually and will last at least two centuries. The temperature decline will reach its peak by the middle of the 21st century.

At the same time, scientists say that the anthropogenic factor - human influence on the environment - does not play as big a role in climate change as is commonly thought. It’s a matter of marketing, Bashkin and Galiullin believe, and the promise of cold weather every year is just a way to increase the price of fuel.

Pandora's Box - The Little Ice Age in the 21st century.

In the next 20-50 years we are threatened with a Little Ice Age, because it has happened before and is about to happen again. Researchers believe that the onset of the Little Ice Age was associated with a slowdown in the Gulf Stream around 1300. In the 1310s, Western Europe, judging by the chronicles, experienced a real environmental catastrophe. According to the French “Chronicle of Matthew of Paris”, after traditionally warm summer 1311 was followed by four gloomy and rainy summers of 1312-1315. Heavy rains and unusually harsh winters led to the destruction of several crops and the freezing of orchards in England, Scotland, northern France and Germany. In Scotland and northern Germany, viticulture and wine production ceased. Winter frosts began to affect even northern Italy. F. Petrarch and G. Boccaccio recorded that in the 14th century. snow often fell in Italy. A direct consequence of the first phase of the MLP was the massive famine of the first half of the 14th century. Indirect - the crisis of the feudal economy, the resumption of corvée and large peasant uprisings in Western Europe. In the Russian lands, the first phase of the MLP made itself felt in the form of a series of “rainy years” in the 14th century.

From about the 1370s, temperatures in Western Europe began to slowly rise, and widespread famine and crop failures ceased. However, cold, rainy summers were common throughout the 15th century. In winter, snowfalls and frosts were often observed in southern Europe. Relative warming began only in the 1440s, and it immediately led to the rise Agriculture. However, the temperatures of the previous climatic optimum were not restored. For Western and Central Europe, snowy winters became common, and the period of “golden autumn” began in September.

What influences the climate so much? It turns out the sun! Back in the 18th century, when fairly powerful telescopes appeared, astronomers noticed that the number of sunspots increases and decreases with a certain periodicity. This phenomenon was called solar activity cycles. They also found out their average duration - 11 years (Schwabe-Wolf cycle). Later, longer cycles were discovered: 22-year cycle (Hale cycle), associated with a change in the polarity of the solar magnetic field, the “secular” Gleissberg cycle lasting about 80-90 years, as well as the 200-year (Suess cycle). It is believed that there is even a cycle lasting 2400 years.

“The fact is that longer cycles, for example secular ones, modulating the amplitude of the 11-year cycle, lead to the emergence of grandiose minima,” said Yuri Nagovitsyn. Modern science knows several of these: the Wolf minimum (early 14th century), Sperer minimum (second half of the 15th century) and Maunder minimum (second half of the 17th century).

Scientists have suggested that the end of the 23rd cycle most likely coincides with the end of the secular cycle of solar activity, the maximum of which was in 1957. This, in particular, is evidenced by the curve of relative Wolf numbers, which has approached its minimum level in recent years. Indirect evidence of superposition is the procrastination of the 11-year-old. Having compared the facts, scientists realized that, apparently, a combination of factors indicates an approaching grandiose minimum. Therefore, if in the 23rd cycle the solar activity was about 120 relative Wolf numbers, then in the next it should be about 90-100 units, astrophysicists suggest. Further activity will decrease even more.

The fact is that longer cycles, for example secular ones, modulating the amplitude of the 11-year cycle, lead to the emergence of grandiose minima, the last of which occurred in the 14th century. What consequences await the Earth? It turns out that it was during the grandiose maxima and minima of solar activity that large temperature anomalies were observed on Earth.

Climate is a very complex thing; it is very difficult to trace all its changes, especially on a global scale, but as scientists suggest, greenhouse gases brought by human activity slightly slowed down the arrival of the Little Ice Age, and the world oceans accumulated some of the heat during last decades the same thing delays the process of the beginning of the Little Ice Age, giving up its heat a little at a time. As it turned out later, the vegetation on our planet absorbs excess carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) well. The main influence on the climate of our planet is still exerted by the Sun, and we cannot do anything about it.

Of course, nothing catastrophic will happen, but part of the northern regions of Russia may become completely unsuitable for life, and oil production in the north of the Russian Federation may cease altogether.

In my opinion, the start of a decline in global temperatures can already be expected in 2014-2015. In 2035-2045, solar luminosity will reach a minimum, and after this, with a lag of 15-20 years, another climate minimum will occur - a deep cooling of the Earth's climate.

News about the end of the world » The Earth is facing a new ice age.

Scientists predict a decrease in solar activity that may occur over the next 10 years. The consequence of this could be a repetition of the so-called “Little Ice Age” that happened in the 17th century, writes the Times.

According to scientists' forecasts, the frequency of sunspots in coming years may decrease significantly.

The cycle of formation of new sunspots that influence the Earth's temperature is 11 years. However, employees of the American National Observatory suggest that the next cycle may be very late or may not happen at all. According to the most optimistic forecasts, they say, the new cycle could begin in 2020-21.

Scientists are wondering whether changes in solar activity will lead to a second "Maunder Minimum" - a period of sharp decline in solar activity that lasted 70 years, from 1645 to 1715. During this time, also known as the "Little Ice Age", the River Thames was covered with almost 30 meters of ice, on which horse-drawn carriages successfully traveled from Whitehall to London Bridge.

According to researchers, the decline in solar activity could lead to an average global temperature drop of 0.5 degrees. However, most scientists are confident that it is too early to sound the alarm. During the “Little Ice Age” in the 17th century, the air temperature dropped significantly only in northwestern Europe, and even then by only 4 degrees. Throughout the rest of the planet, temperatures dropped by just half a degree.

The Second Coming of the Little Ice Age

IN historical time Europe has already experienced a long-term anomalous cold spell once.

The abnormally severe frosts that prevailed in Europe at the end of January almost led to a full-scale collapse in many Western countries. Due to heavy snowfalls, many highways were blocked, power supplies were interrupted, and aircraft reception at airports was canceled. Due to frosts (in the Czech Republic, for example, reaching -39 degrees), classes in schools, exhibitions and sports matches are canceled. In the first 10 days of extreme frosts in Europe alone, more than 600 people died from them.

For the first time in many years, the Danube froze from the Black Sea to Vienna (the ice there reaches 15 cm thick), blocking hundreds of ships. To prevent the Seine from freezing in Paris, an icebreaker that had been idle for a long time was launched. Ice has frozen the canals of Venice and the Netherlands; in Amsterdam, skaters and cyclists ride along its frozen waterways.

The situation for modern Europe is extraordinary. However, looking at famous works European art of the 16th–18th centuries or in the weather records of those years, we learn that the freezing of canals in the Netherlands, the Venetian lagoon or the Seine was a fairly common occurrence for that time. The end of the 18th century was especially extreme.

Thus, the year 1788 was remembered by Russia and Ukraine as the “great winter,” accompanied throughout their European part by “extreme cold, storms and snow.” In Western Europe in December of the same year, a record temperature of -37 degrees was recorded. The birds froze in flight. The Venetian lagoon froze, and the townspeople skated along its entire length. In 1795, ice bound the coast of the Netherlands with such force that an entire military squadron was captured in it, which was then surrounded by a French cavalry squadron across the ice from land. In Paris that year, frosts reached -23 degrees.

Paleoclimatologists (historians who study climate change) call the period from the second half of the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century the “Little Ice Age” (A.S. Monin, Yu.A. Shishkov “Climate History.” Leningrad, 1979) or the “Little Ice Age” era" (E. Le Roy Ladurie, "History of climate since 1000." Leningrad, 1971). They note that during that period there were not isolated cold winters, but a general decrease in temperature on Earth.

Le Roy Ladurie analyzed data on the expansion of glaciers in the Alps and Carpathians. He points to the following fact: the gold mines in the High Tatras, developed in the mid-15th century, were covered with ice 20 m thick in 1570; in the 18th century, the ice thickness there was already 100 m. By 1875, despite the widespread retreat that took place throughout the 19th century and the melting of glaciers, the thickness of the glacier above the medieval mines in the High Tatras was still 40 m. At the same time, as the French paleoclimatologist notes, the advance of glaciers began in the French Alps. In the commune of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, in the Savoy mountains, "the advance of glaciers definitely began in 1570–1580."

Le Roy Ladurie points out similar examples with exact dates and elsewhere in the Alps. In Switzerland, by 1588 there is evidence of the expansion of a glacier in the Swiss Grindenwald, and in 1589 a glacier descending from the mountains blocked the valley of the Saas River. In the Pennine Alps (in Italy near the border with Switzerland and France) a noticeable expansion of glaciers was also noted in 1594–1595. “In the eastern Alps (Tirol and others), glaciers advance equally and simultaneously. The first information about this dates back to 1595, writes Le Roy Ladurie. And he adds: “In 1599–1600, the curve of glacial development reached its peak for the entire Alpine region.” Since that time, written sources contain endless complaints from residents of mountain villages that glaciers are burying their pastures, fields and houses, thus erasing entire settlements. In the 17th century, the expansion of glaciers continued.

The expansion of glaciers in Iceland, starting from late XVI century and throughout the 17th century advancing on populated areas. As a result, Le Roy Ladurie states, “Scandinavian glaciers, synchronously with Alpine glaciers and glaciers in other areas of the world, have been experiencing the first, well-defined historical maximum since 1695,” and “in subsequent years they will begin to advance again.” This continued until the middle of the 18th century.

The thickness of the glaciers of those centuries can truly be called historical. The graph of changes in the thickness of glaciers in Iceland and Norway over the past 10 thousand years, published in the book “Climate History” by Andrei Monin and Yuri Shishkov, clearly shows how the thickness of glaciers, which began to grow around 1600, by 1750 reached the level at which the glaciers remained in Europe in the period 8–5 thousand years BC.

Is it any wonder that contemporaries have recorded, since the 1560s in Europe, extraordinary cold winters, which were accompanied by freezing, repeated over and over again? large rivers and bodies of water? These cases are indicated, for example, in the book by Evgeny Borisenkov and Vasily Pasetsky “The Thousand-Year Chronicle unusual phenomena nature" (Moscow, 1988). In December 1564, the powerful Scheldt in the Netherlands completely froze and remained under ice until the end of the first week of January 1565. The same cold winter was repeated in 1594/95, when the Scheldt and Rhine froze. The seas and straits froze: in 1580 and 1658 - the Baltic Sea, in 1620/21 - the Black Sea and the Bosporus Strait, in 1659 - the Great Belt Strait between the Baltic and North Seas (the minimum width of which is 3.7 km).

The end of the 17th century, when, according to Le Roy Ladurie, the thickness of glaciers in Europe reached a historical maximum, was marked by crop failures due to prolonged severe frosts. As noted in the book by Borisenkov and Pasetsky: “The years 1692–1699 were marked in Western Europe by continuous crop failures and famines.”

One of the worst winters of the Little Ice Age occurred in January–February 1709. Reading the description of those historical events, you involuntarily try them on for modern ones: “An extraordinary cold, the likes of which neither our grandfathers nor great-grandfathers could remember... the inhabitants of Russia and Western Europe died. Birds, flying through the air, froze. In Europe as a whole, many thousands of people, animals and trees died. In the vicinity of Venice, the Adriatic Sea was covered with standing ice. The coastal waters of England are covered in ice. The Seine and Thames are frozen. The ice on the Meuse River reached 1.5 m. The frosts were equally great in the eastern part of North America.” The winters of 1739/40, 1787/88 and 1788/89 were no less severe.

In the 19th century, the Little Ice Age gave way to warming and harsh winters became a thing of the past. Is he returning now?

The victory of the theory of the two Charleses in its original, “extremist” version seemed to automatically “give an answer” to this question, which stood at the very beginning of the formation of geology as a science. Since the “theory without catastrophes” won, then there was no Flood, since the Flood is also a catastrophe.

Nowadays, however, most often geologists try to bypass such an unscientific technique, preferring either to simply remain silent or to refer to the famous Occam’s razor, they say, since they “manage” to explain the features geological structure the earth's crust and the occurrence of various layers without any Flood, then there was no Flood as such.

But the problem is that in reality it is not possible to explain all the existing features. As well as not all related paleontological finds. Moreover, paradoxically, many of these finds were known at the very beginning of the dispute between two global geological concepts. However, this is natural - after all, supporters of the reality of the Flood did not rely on biblical texts alone in their disputes with evolutionists...

“The leading “diluvialist” (scientist who studies the flood) was undoubtedly William Buckland (1784-1856), who in 1813 received a post as lecturer in mineralogy at Oxford University and there, in 1818, became lecturer in geology... In his speech at Upon taking up his post as a teacher of geology, Buckland tried to show that geological facts were consistent with the information about the creation of the world and the flood recorded in the books of Moses ... For the publication of his magnum opus (main work), entitled "Traces of the Flood", Buckland was awarded high praise from critics…

Buckland was well acquainted with the geological literature and, using reports of finds of fossil animal bones at high altitudes in the Andes and Himalayas, came to the conclusion that the flood was not limited to the lowlands; the water column was large enough to cover the high mountain ranges. He collected extensive and varied material in support of the global flood. The following were considered as evidence: gorges and gorges cutting through mountain ranges; outcrops and table mountains; colossal accumulations of rubble; boulders scattered on the hills and along the mountain slopes, where the rivers could not carry them. These phenomena, it seemed, could not be associated with the action of modern, insufficiently powerful factors of erosion and sediment transport. Therefore, Buckland adhered to Sir James Hall’s ideas about some grandiose stream or water shaft, like a giant tidal wave” (E. Hallam, “The Great Geological Controversies”).

Note that during the period of struggle between two approaches, during the period of confrontation, Buckland’s work with an attempt to prove the reality of the Flood received praise not only from adherents of his position, but also from critics!.. This means that the evidence base he collected was really very serious!..

William Buckland.

However, a number of relief features in some regions and the nature of the occurrence of geological layers did not at all correspond to the biblical version of the Flood. These features simply physically could not have formed under conditions of complete flooding of land with water according to the scenario Holy Scripture. This is what the supporters of the theory of two Charleses took advantage of.

It has been noted that many of these geological features are strikingly similar to the effects of glaciers in mountainous areas. Glacier tongues that increase in winter and decrease in summer season, left behind quite characteristic traces, which scientists paid attention to. There was only one serious problem- such traces were present in very vast areas where in the foreseeable past there was a warm climate, and where there were no conditions for the formation of glaciers.

This problem was eliminated with the help of the version that previously the climatic conditions on the planet were completely different - much colder. So much so that the glacial shell covered vast areas in Europe and North America. This is how the “Ice Age” theory appeared, which (at first glance) removed the bulk of the contradictions in explaining the existing geological facts.

Being the only one an alternative to the biblical version of the Flood, along with the victory of the theory of the two Charleses, the “Ice Age” theory automatically also gained recognition. However, this is quite natural, since it, in fact, represents only a very special case (if not a special consequence) of Lyell’s winning theory. And now the Ice Age theory occupies a dominant position.

The end of the “Ice Age” (in the 11th millennium BC according to the accepted geochronological scale) is now associated not only with strong change climate, which ultimately led to modern conditions, but also the mass extinction of animals, which is usually correlated with the boundary between eras. From an archaeological point of view, this is the end of the ancient Stone Age, the Paleolithic; and according to geological classification, this is the boundary between the Pleistocene, the lower section of the Quaternary period, and the Holocene, its upper section.

“...mass animal extinction actually occurred as a result of the turmoil of the last Ice Age... In the New World, for example, over 70 species of large mammals became extinct between 15,000 and 8,000 BC... These losses, which essentially meant the violent death of over 40 million animals , were not evenly distributed over the entire period; on the contrary, the bulk of them occur in the two thousand years between 11,000 and 9,000 BC. To get a sense of the dynamics, we note that during the previous 300 thousand years, only about 20 species disappeared” (G. Hancock, “Traces of the Gods”).

“The same pattern of mass extinction was observed in Europe and Asia. Even distant Australia was no exception, losing in a relatively short period of time, according to some estimates, nineteen species of large vertebrates, and not only mammals” (ibid.).

The very term “Ice Age” has entered our lives so deeply that (thanks to the widely known cartoons and television programs under this name) you can hardly find a person who is not familiar with it. And few people think about what actually... The Ice Age simply never happened!.. At least it wasn’t exactly in the form in which they used to perceive it - as a period of a certain globalcold snap on the planet.

I think the unprepared reader will be surprised and even indignant here. How was this not the Ice Age?!. After all, everyone around is just talking about the fact that he was!..

However, the "everyone says" argument is not any proof of the truth of what "they say." We must look at objective data, and not at fashion or popularity. After all, misconceptions may well be fashionable and popular.

So let’s take a closer look at “Ice Age”. Or rather, what is called its ending...

Although a variety of factors have been cited as the reasons for the sharp warming at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, in general the majority of scientists believe that it was global change climate, which led to the rapid melting of glaciers over vast areas and rising sea levels, and became the main cause of the mass extinction of animals, the main peak of which occurred in the 11th millennium BC (within the accepted geochronological scale!).

However, the nature of the fossil remains and geological deposits correlated with this period of time in a number of regions does not at all correspond to the smooth change in the level of the World Ocean, which should have occurred with the gradual melting of ice at the end of the Ice Age. The observed facts are much more reminiscent of the result of the influence of a powerful water flow, very fleeting in time and comparable precisely to a cataclysm, and not to a gradual change in weather conditions.

It is curious that this discrepancy was noticed already when the Ice Age theory was just emerging and taking its first steps - in the first half of the 19th century. By this time, it was already known, for example, about archaeological finds in Siberia and Alaska, which clearly point specifically to catastrophic course of events.

"IN permafrost Alaska... you can find... evidence of atmospheric disturbances of incomparable power. Mammoths and bison were torn to pieces and twisted as if some cosmic hands of the gods were at work in fury. In one place... they discovered the front leg and shoulder of a mammoth; the blackened bones still held remnants of soft tissue adjacent to the spine along with tendons and ligaments, and the chitinous shell of the tusks was not damaged. There were no traces of dismemberment of the carcasses with a knife or other weapon (as would be the case if hunters were involved in the dismemberment). The animals were simply torn apart and scattered around the area like products made from woven straw, although some of them weighed several tons. Mixed in with the accumulations of bones are trees, also torn, twisted and tangled; all this is covered with fine-grained quicksand, subsequently frozen tightly” (H. Hancock, “Traces of the Gods”).

“The same story happened in Siberia - and here, too, many animals were discovered buried in permafrost, most of which were typical for temperate regions. And here the corpses of animals were among uprooted tree trunks and other vegetation and bore signs of death from an unexpected and sudden catastrophe... Mammoths died suddenly, and in large numbers, when severe frost. Death came so quickly that they did not have time to digest the food they had swallowed...” (A. Alford, “Gods of the New Millennium”).

Map of finds of mammoth remains in Siberia.

“The northern regions of Alaska and Siberia appear to have suffered the most from the deadly cataclysms 13,000-11,000 years ago. As if death swung its scythe along Arctic Circle– the remains of a myriad of large animals were discovered there, including a large number of carcasses with intact soft tissues and an incredible number of perfectly preserved mammoth tusks. Moreover, in both regions, mammoth carcasses were thawed to feed sled dogs, and mammoth steaks were even featured in restaurant menus"(G. Hancock, "Traces of the Gods").

But most importantly, these finds provide evidence that the climate in these regions was not colder at all (as it should be, based on the Ice Age theory), but on the contrary - much warmer, than now.

"IN northern countries these events left the carcasses of huge quadrupeds frozen in the ice, preserved to this day along with skin, wool and meat. If they had not been frozen immediately at the moment of death, decomposition would have destroyed their bodies. But on the other hand, such constant cold could not previously have been characteristic of those places where we find animals frozen in the ice: they couldn't live at that temperature. The animals died, therefore, at the very moment when glaciation descended on the areas of their habitat” (Cuvier G. (1825). Discours (3rd edn.), vol. 1, pp. 8-9).

The publication date of the work from which the last quotation is taken, 1825, is very significant. Darwin's theory of evolution does not yet exist, Lyell's theory does not yet exist, their particular case - the "Ice Age" theory - does not yet exist, but facts are already known that indicate not only the sudden death of animals (which corresponds to a catastrophe), but also significantly a warmer rather than colder climate at the location where the finds were found. Moreover, facts indicating that at the time of the end of the Ice Age in these regions there was not warming at all, but, on the contrary, a sharp cold snap!..

However, in the name of the triumph of the theory of the two Charleses, they simply preferred (and still prefer) not to remember this data. Facts are rejected in favor of theory and its special cases!..

However, I don’t think that everything was decided directly by the struggle between two irreconcilable theories, during which scientists, for some selfish reasons, deliberately decided to become “unscrupulous” and deliberately discard this data. The objective features of that time should also be taken into account.

Where was scientific thought concentrated in the first half of the 19th century?.. Almost all of it was concentrated in Europe and the developed centers of the United States, which were located mainly on the east coast of North America - that is, precisely in those regions where traces of glaciers were found. From here to Siberia and Alaska the path is not close at all, especially then...

And it is quite natural that the bulk of the empirical material collected at this point in time - geological and paleontological - came from Europe and the eastern part of North America. After all, it was much easier for the scientific fraternity to collect data close to home rather than make difficult expeditions to harsh areas located thousands of kilometers away. The result is also quite natural - the bulk of research and work of that time was also devoted to the regions of Europe and the eastern part of South America. And it is absolutely no wonder that in this mass of research, literally isolated reports of finds in Siberia and Alaska could simply be trivial... lost!..

We have to admit that statistics actually won, not scientific approach. And the theory of the “Ice Age” simply “outweighed” the version of a fleeting catastrophe, the version of the Flood - outweighed not even with arguments, but almost in the literal sense of the word, that is, with a mass of scribbled paper...

Meanwhile, the question does not at all come down to ordinary statistics. The fact is that the finds in Siberia and Alaska not only do not fit into the “Ice Age” theory, they put an end to it!.. After all, in order for mammoths, deer and other animals of the temperate climate zone to live in these regions, the temperature here should have been not lower (as the “Ice Age” theory suggests), but higher than the modern one!.. However, if the temperature on Earth was so low that Europe was covered by powerful glaciers (as the “Ice Age” theory states), then in Siberia and Alaska, now located much further north, should have been even colder. Consequently, the glaciers must have been such that there could be no talk of any animals at all!..

For example, evidence was discovered that at the end of the so-called “Ice Age” it became noticeably colder not only in Siberia and Alaska, but also in the southern part of South America, which also should not have happened. After all, if the general temperature background of the planet increased, then in South America one would expect warming, and not cooling at all.

Recently, evidence has also been obtained that not everything is so simple with glaciers in Antarctica. It is usually indicated that their age is at least hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. But the problem is that this conclusion is made based on the analysis of individual samples in limited regions (where the glacial shell is thicker), but for some reason it extends to the entire continent at once. Meanwhile, studies in some coastal areas indicate that not all glaciers in Antarctica are of such a venerable age. And the climate in some parts of this continent was previously so much warmer that rivers even flowed here!.. This is clearly indicated by samples of bottom sediments collected in 1949 during one of Sir Baird’s Antarctic expeditions from the bottom of the Ross Sea and indicating that that the rivers in the part of Antarctica closest to the Ross Sea literally flowed only about six thousand years ago!..

“In 1949, during one of Sir Baird’s Antarctic expeditions, samples of bottom sediments were taken from the bottom of the Ross Sea through drilling. Dr. Jack Hoof of the University of Illinois took three cores to study the evolution of climate in Antarctica. They were sent to the Carnegie Institution of Washington (DC), where a new dating method developed by nuclear physicist Dr. V.D. Urie was used...

The nature of bottom sediments varies greatly depending on the climatic conditions that existed at the time of their formation. If they were carried out by rivers and deposited in the sea, then they turn out to be well sorted, and the better the further they fall from the river mouth. If they are torn from the earth's surface by a glacier and carried out to sea by an iceberg, then their character corresponds to coarse clastic material. If the river has a seasonal cycle, flowing only in the summer, most likely from melting glaciers in inland areas, and freezing every winter, then the sediments will form in layers, like the annual rings of trees.

All these types of sediments were found in bottom cores of the Ross Sea. Most striking was the presence of a series of layers formed from well-sorted sediments carried to the sea by rivers from ice-free lands. As can be seen from the cores, over the last million years there have been at least three periods of temperate climate in Antarctica, when the Ross Sea shores should have been ice-free...

The timing of the end of the last warm period in the Ross Sea, determined by Dr. Ury, was of great importance to us. All three cores indicated that the warming ended about 6,000 years ago, or in the fourth millennium BC. This was when glacial sediments began to accumulate on the floor of the Ross Sea during the immediate Ice Age. Kern convinces us that this was preceded by a longer warming” (C. Hapgood, “Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings”).

It turns out that during the Ice Age the climate in Antarctica was warmer, and not colder at all. And it got cold there just after the Ice Age ended.

Are there not too many “unfortunate misunderstandings”?.. And isn’t the area over which these same “misunderstandings” are observed, which ultimately cover a huge part of the globe, too large?..

You can actually get out of this tangle of climatic contradictions in a very simple way, if (leaving aside for now the question of the Flood and the causes of the observed climate change) carry out a rather banal logical chain: the closer to the pole, the colder the climate, the greater, accordingly, the likelihood of the formation of glaciers. Expanding this logical chain from end to beginning and starting from the facts, we obtain the following conclusion.

Glaciers in Europe and eastern North America formed because earlier in the 11th millennium BC these regions were closer to the north geographic pole than they are now. The climate in Siberia and Alaska was warmer because at the same time these regions were located further from the north geographic pole than they are now. Likewise, South America with the nearby regions of Antarctica was further from the south geographic pole than is the case today. In other words, Previously, the geographic poles of our planet occupied a different position.

There was in fact no “Ice Age”!.. At least in the sense as we understand it now - as a more low temperatures throughout the planet as a whole. " Ice Age" was in Europe and eastern North America(after all, there was ice there), but it did not have a planetary, but only local character!.. And it ended not because of a general increase in temperature on the planet, but because, as a result of changes in the position of the geographic poles, Europe and the eastern part of North America found themselves in warmer latitudes.