Editing Ice age (section)

==Effects of glaciation==
{{See also|Glacial landform}}
[[File:Scandinavia.TMO2003050.jpg|right|thumb|[[Scandinavia]] exhibits some of the typical effects of ice age glaciation such as [[fjord]]s and lakes.]]

Although the last glacial period ended more than 8,000 years ago, its effects can still be felt today. For example, the moving ice carved out the landscape in Canada (See [[Canadian Arctic Archipelago]]), Greenland, northern Eurasia and Antarctica. The [[erratic boulder]]s, [[till]], [[drumlin]]s, [[esker]]s, [[fjord]]s, [[kettle lake]]s, [[moraine]]s, [[cirque]]s, [[Glacial horn|horns]], etc., are typical features left behind by the glaciers. The weight of the ice sheets was so great that they deformed Earth's crust and mantle. After the ice sheets melted, the ice-covered land [[Post-glacial rebound|rebounded]]. Due to the high [[viscosity]] of [[Earth's mantle]], the flow of mantle rocks which controls the rebound process is very slow—at a rate of about 1&nbsp;cm/year near the center of rebound area today.

During glaciation, water was taken from the oceans to form the ice at high latitudes, thus global sea level dropped by about 110 meters, exposing the continental shelves and forming land-bridges between land-masses for animals to migrate. During [[deglaciation]], the melted ice-water returned to the oceans, causing sea level to rise. This process can cause sudden shifts in coastlines and hydration systems resulting in newly submerged lands, emerging lands, collapsed [[Proglacial lake|ice dams]] resulting in [[salinity|salination]] of lakes, new ice dams creating vast areas of freshwater, and a general alteration in regional weather patterns on a large but temporary scale. It can even cause temporary [[reglaciation]]. This type of chaotic pattern of rapidly changing land, ice, saltwater and freshwater has been proposed as the likely model for the [[Baltic region|Baltic]] and [[Scandinavia]]n regions, as well as much of central North America at the end of the last glacial maximum, with the present-day coastlines only being achieved in the last few millennia of prehistory. Also, the effect of elevation on Scandinavia submerged a vast continental plain that had existed under much of what is now the North Sea, connecting the British Isles to Continental Europe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Bjørn G. |last2=Borns |first2=Harold W. Jr. |title=The Ice Age World: an introduction to quaternary history and research with emphasis on North America and Northern Europe during the last 2.5 million years |year=1997 |url=http://www.universitetsforlaget.no/boker/realfagogit/biologi_geologi_og_miljoefag/katalog?productId=674197 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112093533/http://www.universitetsforlaget.no/boker/realfagogit/biologi_geologi_og_miljoefag/katalog?productId=674197 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-12 |publisher=[[Universitetsforlaget]] |location=Oslo |isbn=978-82-00-37683-5 |access-date=2013-10-14 }}</ref>

The redistribution of ice-water on the surface of Earth and the flow of mantle rocks causes changes in the [[Gravity of Earth|gravitational field]] as well as changes to the distribution of the [[moment of inertia]] of Earth. These changes to the moment of inertia result in a change in the [[angular velocity]], [[Axis of rotation|axis]], and wobble of Earth's rotation.

The weight of the redistributed surface mass loaded the [[lithosphere]], caused it to [[Bending|flex]] and also induced [[Stress (mechanics)|stress]] within Earth. The presence of the glaciers generally suppressed the movement of [[Fault (geology)|faults]] below.<ref>{{cite book |author=Johnston, A. |chapter=The effect of large ice sheets on earthquake genesis |editor1=Gregersen, S. |editor2=Basham, P. |title=Earthquakes at North-Atlantic passive margins: Neotectonics and postglacial rebound |publisher=Kluwer |location=Dordrecht |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-7923-0150-9 |pages=581–599}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wu|first1=Patrick|last2=Hasegawa|first2=Henry S.|date=October 1996|title=Induced stresses and fault potential in eastern Canada due to a realistic load: a preliminary analysis|journal=Geophysical Journal International|language=en|volume=127|issue=1|pages=215–229|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246X.1996.tb01546.x|bibcode=1996GeoJI.127..215W|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Turpeinen | first1 = H. | last2 = Hampel | first2 = A. | last3 = Karow | first3 = T. | last4 = Maniatis | first4 = G. | year = 2008 | title = Effect of ice sheet growth and melting on the slip evolution of thrust faults | journal = [[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] | volume = 269 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 230–241 |bibcode = 2008E&PSL.269..230T |doi = 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.02.017}}</ref> During [[deglaciation]], the faults experience accelerated slip triggering [[earthquake]]s. Earthquakes triggered near the ice margin may in turn accelerate [[ice calving]] and may account for the [[Heinrich events]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hunt|first1=A. G.|last2=Malin|first2=P. E.|date=May 1998|title=Possible triggering of Heinrich events by ice-load-induced earthquakes|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=393|issue=6681|pages=155–158|doi=10.1038/30218|issn=0028-0836|bibcode=1998Natur.393..155H|s2cid=4393858}}</ref> As more ice is removed near the ice margin, more [[intraplate earthquake]]s are induced and this positive feedback may explain the fast collapse of ice sheets.

In Europe, glacial erosion and [[isostasy|isostatic]] sinking from the weight of ice made the [[Baltic Sea]], which before the Ice Age was all land drained by the [[Eridanos (geology)|Eridanos River]].