Holocene glacial retreat

Holocene glacial retreat had a profound effect on landscapes in many areas that were covered by ice at the Last Glacial Maximum. The many valleys of the Cairngorms, a mountainous region in the Eastern Scottish Highlands are littered with deposits from this period.

Geographical alterations

Evidences of the retreat of the ice sheets

*Terminal moraine
*Altered river coursesThe modern Ohio River was formed when the river was temporarily dammed just southwest of Louisville, Kentucky, creating a large lake until the dam burst. The Ohio River largely supplanted the former Teays River drainage system, which was disrupted by the glaciers.
*Ancient shoresAncient Lake Chicago, on the southern margin of the Wisconsin Glacier, found successive lower outlets as the glacier retreated, until the Saint Lawrence River route was uncovered. Corresponding to each level, remnant lake shore features may be found in many areas. One prehistoric shoreline is delineated by Bluff Avenue, a north-south street on the La Grange, Illinois east side.
*Glacial erratics

External links

* [http://www.jamestown-ri.info/holocene.htm The Post-Glacial Period Holocene Epoch]
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/forest_facts/resources/geology/icefields.htm Tongass National Forest overview of glaciers]
* [http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F0016-7606(1999)111%3C1486:LPHROT%3E2.3.CO%3B2 Late Pleistocene–Holocene retreat of the West Antarctic Ice-Sheet system]
* [http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7x.html some basics]
* [http://www.wooster.edu/geology/tr/slucas.html Late Holocene Glaciation of the McCarty and Northwestern Fjords, Alaska]
* [http://www.nps.gov/mora/ncrd/archaeology/chap2c.htm HOLOCENE EVOLUTION OF MOUNT RAINIER'S ENVIRONMENT]