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    Paleoclimatology

    Glacial period

    Glacial period

    A glacial period is a prolonged interval within an ice age when global temperatures cool and continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers advance. The most recent glacial period spanned roughly 115,000 to 11,700 years ago and culminated in the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets covered large parts of North America and Eurasia and global sea level was about 120–125 meters lower than today.