GLACIATIONS | Late Pleistocene in Eurasia

In recent decades, knowledge of the glacial history of the last Pleistocene glaciation in Eurasia has changed tremendously. According to recent investigations, a major ice advance first entered the Russian mainland as early as 80–100 ka, blocking all drainage and damming huge lakes in West Siberia and European Russia. Drainage was diverted southward to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. While in the east this Early Weichselian glaciation was the most extensive, so far few traces of this ice sheet have been found in the western regions. About 60 ka BP, a mid-Weichselian glaciation covered large parts of northern Russia and Siberia. Only the last, Late Weichselian glaciation was restricted to the shelf areas of the Barents and Kara Sea and did not extend into the Russian mainland. In the west, this was the most extensive Weichselian glaciation. In the Alps and in Britain, little evidence has been found so far of the extent of the Early Weichselian ice sheets.