Year 8 Geography Home Study Name: Form: Week 1 – Glaciation in the UK Britain has not always enjoyed its current mild climate, over the past 2.6 million years it has gone through extremes of cold ice ages and warm periods! The most recent ice age ended around 12,500 years ago and since then glaciers in the UK slowly vanished as the climate gradually warmed. However, at the coldest part of the last ice age glaciers could be found all over the UK, from the highlands of Scotland to England and Wales! Ice sheets could be found as far south as central England and parts of Norwich. In an area which has been glaciated, such as Britain, you can find evidence that glaciers were present not that long ago. Average temperatures during the last ice age were at least 5°C colder than they are today, allowing a one-kilometre-thick Map to show the ice sheets during the last ice age sheet of ice to cover much of the country. The temperature remained below 0°C all year round in northern regions, particularly Scotland, allowing the sheet to remain on the land all year. Large glacial lakes covered Manchester and Newcastle and and much of the country was unsuitable for humans to live, as the ground was too frozen to allow any farming or animals to graze. Some experts believe ice connected Britain with Scandinavia, allowing large wildlife to roam free between the UK and mainland Europe! During this period Britain would have seen the likes of woolly mammoths, giant deer and wolves roaming its icy landscapes. Over time, the ice carved out the landscape of Britain, Painting of villagers looking out over a forming scars in the landscape that can still be seen frozen landscape today, such as corries and U shaped valleys. Also, as the climate warmed, glaciers melted and deposited the rocks and stones they were carrying, creating landforms such as moraines and erratics. Woolly mammoth Week 2 – People and glaciers Do glaciers affect people? Today, glaciers often are tourist attractions in mountainous areas. But glaciers are also a natural resource, and people all over the world use the meltwater that glaciers produce. Glaciers provide drinking water People living in arid climates near mountains often rely on glacial melt for their water for part of the year. Many of the rivers coursing through China, India, and other parts of the Asian continent are fed largely by snowmelt from the Himalaya, but in late summer a significant part of riverflow comes from melting glaciers. In South America, residents of La Paz, Bolivia, rely on glacial melting from a nearby ice cap to provide water during the significant dry spells they sometimes experience. 40% of the global population rely on glaciers for their drinking water. Glaciers irrigate crops In Switzerland's Rhone Valley, farmers have irrigated their crops for hundreds of years by channeling meltwater from glaciers to their fields. In parts of Asia, over 129 million farmers rely on glacial meltwater to irrigate their crops. During the dry season, when rain is limited, 60% of the water used on their crops will come from glacial meltwater. Without this supply of glacial melt water, crops could fail as rainfall is becoming more unpredictable as a result of climate change. This could create a number of knock on impacts such as farmers losing business and food shortages. Glaciers help generate hydroelectric power Scientists and engineers in Norway, central Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and South America have worked together to tap into glacial resources. As glaciers melt they produce massive amounts of melt water. The power of this water flowing downstream is used to turn huge turbines which produce electricity. This electricity doesn’t produce any greenhouse gases and is a great alternative to fossil fuels such as coal or crude oil. Also, once the water has passed through the turbines it can go on to be used for crop irrigation, washing or drinking. Glaciers create tourism People have always been fascinated by glaciers and will travel far to visit them. For example, Glacier National Park in Montana (U.S) receives 2.9 million visitors every year. These tourists are keen to see ‘natures bulldozers’ before climate change causes them to melt and disappear for good. All the visitors to Glacier National Park, and other glacial landscapes throughout the world, spend money in the area and provide local people with an income to support their family with. If glaciers disappear it is thought that the number of visitors to these areas will decrease and jobs such as glacier tour guides, park keepers and hotel owners will suffers causing serious knock on impacts. .