Ice Age Megafauna and Time Notes Contents
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Ice Age megafauna and time notes Contents 1 Ice age 1 1.1 Origin of ice age theory ........................................ 1 1.2 Evidence for ice ages ......................................... 2 1.3 Major ice ages ............................................ 3 1.4 Glacials and interglacials ....................................... 4 1.5 Positive and negative feedback in glacial periods ........................... 5 1.5.1 Positive feedback processes ................................. 5 1.5.2 Negative feedback processes ................................. 5 1.6 Causes of ice ages ........................................... 5 1.6.1 Changes in Earth’s atmosphere ................................ 6 1.6.2 Position of the continents ................................... 6 1.6.3 Fluctuations in ocean currents ................................ 7 1.6.4 Uplift of the Tibetan plateau and surrounding mountain areas above the snowline ...... 7 1.6.5 Variations in Earth’s orbit (Milankovitch cycles) ....................... 7 1.6.6 Variations in the Sun’s energy output ............................. 8 1.6.7 Volcanism .......................................... 8 1.7 Recent glacial and interglacial phases ................................. 8 1.7.1 Glacial stages in North America ............................... 8 1.7.2 Last Glacial Period in the semiarid Andes around Aconcagua and Tupungato ........ 9 1.8 Effects of glaciation .......................................... 9 1.9 See also ................................................ 10 1.10 References .............................................. 10 1.11 External links ............................................. 13 2 Megafauna 14 2.1 Ecological strategy ........................................... 14 2.2 Evolution of large body size ...................................... 14 2.2.1 In terrestrial mammals .................................... 15 2.2.2 In marine mammals ...................................... 15 2.2.3 In flightless birds ....................................... 15 2.3 Megafaunal mass extinctions ..................................... 16 2.3.1 Timing and possible causes .................................. 16 2.3.2 Consequences of depletion of megafauna ........................... 17 i ii CONTENTS 2.4 Examples ............................................... 17 2.5 Gallery ................................................. 21 2.5.1 Extinct ............................................ 21 2.5.2 Living ............................................. 22 2.6 See also ................................................ 23 2.7 Notes ................................................. 23 2.8 References ............................................... 23 2.9 External links ............................................. 26 3 Pleistocene 27 3.1 Dating ................................................. 27 3.2 Paleogeography and climate ...................................... 28 3.2.1 Glacial features ........................................ 28 3.2.2 Major events ......................................... 28 3.2.3 Palaeocycles .......................................... 29 3.3 Fauna ................................................. 30 3.4 Humans ................................................ 30 3.5 Deposits ................................................ 31 3.6 See also ................................................ 31 3.7 References ............................................... 31 3.8 External links ............................................. 32 4 Prehistoric mammal 33 4.1 List of prehistoric mammals ...................................... 33 4.2 See also ................................................ 33 5 Stone Age 34 5.1 Historical significance ......................................... 34 5.2 The Stone Age in archaeology ..................................... 34 5.2.1 Beginning of the Stone Age .................................. 34 5.2.2 End of the Stone Age ..................................... 35 5.2.3 The concept of Stone Age ................................... 35 5.2.4 The three-stage system .................................... 36 5.2.5 The problem of the transitions ................................ 37 5.3 Chronology .............................................. 37 5.3.1 Three-age chronology ..................................... 37 5.3.2 Three-stage chronology .................................... 43 5.4 Material culture ............................................ 43 5.4.1 Tools ............................................. 43 5.4.2 Food and drink ........................................ 43 5.4.3 Shelter and habitat ...................................... 44 5.4.4 Art .............................................. 44 CONTENTS iii 5.4.5 Stone Age rituals and beliefs ................................. 45 5.5 Modern popular culture and the Stone Age .............................. 45 5.6 See also ................................................ 45 5.7 Notes ................................................. 46 5.8 References ............................................... 47 5.9 Further reading ............................................ 47 5.10 External links ............................................. 47 6 Woolly mammoth 49 6.1 Taxonomy ............................................... 49 6.1.1 Etymology .......................................... 50 6.1.2 Evolution ........................................... 50 6.2 Description .............................................. 51 6.2.1 Coat .............................................. 52 6.2.2 Dentition ........................................... 53 6.3 Palaeobiology ............................................. 54 6.3.1 Diet .............................................. 54 6.3.2 Growth and reproduction ................................... 55 6.4 Distribution and habitat ........................................ 56 6.5 Relationship with humans ....................................... 57 6.5.1 Exploitation .......................................... 57 6.6 Extinction ............................................... 58 6.7 Frozen specimens ........................................... 59 6.7.1 Recreating the species ..................................... 61 6.8 Cultural significance .......................................... 62 6.8.1 Cryptozoology ........................................ 62 6.9 References ............................................... 63 6.10 Bibliography .............................................. 67 7 Woolly rhinoceros 68 7.1 Evolution ............................................... 68 7.2 Description .............................................. 68 7.3 Behavior and habitat .......................................... 68 7.3.1 Diet .............................................. 69 7.4 Extinction ............................................... 69 7.5 See also ................................................ 70 7.6 References ............................................... 70 7.7 External links ............................................. 70 7.8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses .......................... 71 7.8.1 Text .............................................. 71 7.8.2 Images ............................................ 74 7.8.3 Content license ........................................ 78 Chapter 1 Ice age 4 Temperature variation (ΔT) This article is about a generic geological period of tem- 2 0 perature reduction. For the most recent glacial period −2 °C −4 commonly referred to as the Ice Age, see Last glacial pe- −6 −8 riod. For other uses, see Ice age (disambiguation). −10 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the 300 Carbon Dioxide 280 260 240 ppmv 220 200 180 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1.8 1.6 Dust concentration 1.4 1.2 1 ppm 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Thousands of years ago Variations in temperature, CO 2, and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400,000 years temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of cold climate are termed "glacial pe- riods" (or alternatively “glacials” or “glaciations” or col- loquially as “ice age”), and intermittent warm periods are called "interglacials". Glaciologically, ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in the northern and south- An artist’s impression of ice age Earth at glacial maximum. ern hemispheres.[1] By this definition, we are in an inter- Based on: Crowley, T.J. (1995). “Ice age terrestrial carbon glacial period—the holocene—of the ice age that began changes revisited”. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9 (3): 377– 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch, 389. Bibcode:1995GBioC...9..377C. doi:10.1029/95GB01107. because the Greenland, Arctic, and Antarctic ice sheets still exist.[2] 1.1 Origin of ice age theory In 1742 Pierre Martel (1706–1767), an engineer and ge- ographer living in Geneva, visited the valley of Chamonix in the Alps of Savoy.[3][4] Two years later he published an account of his journey. He reported that the inhab- itants of that valley attributed the dispersal of erratic boulders to the fact that the glaciers had once extended much farther.[5][6] Later similar explanations were re- ported from other regions of the Alps. In 1815 the car- penter and chamois hunter Jean-Pierre Perraudin (1767– 1858) explained erratic boulders in the Val de Bagnes in The Antarctic ice sheet. Ice sheets expand during an ice age. the