Editing Quaternary (section)

==Climate==
{{Further|Quaternary glaciation|Last Glacial Period}}

The [[climate]] was one of periodic glaciations with continental glaciers moving as far from the poles as 40 degrees [[latitude]]. Glaciation took place repeatedly during the Quaternary [[Ice age]]&nbsp;– a term coined by Schimper in 1839 that began with the start of the Quaternary about 2.58 Mya and continues to the present day.[[File:IceAgeEarth.jpg|thumb|Artist's impression of Earth during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]]]]
In 1821, a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] engineer, [[Ignaz Venetz]], presented an article in which he suggested the presence of traces of the passage of a glacier at a considerable distance from the Alps. This idea was initially disputed by another Swiss scientist, [[Louis Agassiz]], but when he undertook to disprove it, he ended up affirming his colleague's hypothesis. A year later, Agassiz raised the hypothesis of a great glacial period that would have had long-reaching general effects. This idea gained him international fame and led to the establishment of the Glacial Theory.

In time, thanks to the refinement of geology, it has been demonstrated that there were several periods of glacial advance and retreat and that past temperatures on Earth were very different from today.
In particular, the [[Milankovitch cycles]] of [[Milutin Milankovitch]] are based on the premise that variations in incoming [[solar radiation]] are a fundamental factor controlling Earth's climate.

During this time, substantial glaciers advanced and retreated over much of North America and Europe, parts of South America and Asia, and all of Antarctica.