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Home » Articles » Geology - the Quaternary PeriodGeology - the Quaternary Period
Rocks and fossils dating from the Quaternary Period.
Rocks and fossils dating from the Quaternary Period.
Two million years ago the climate cooled dramatically and Britain became caught in the grip of the Great Ice Age, a series of extreme climatic fluctuations that lasted until about 12000 years ago. During this time Wales was subjected to numerous periods of extreme cold when much of the land was covered in thick ice sheets and global sea level fell by 100 metres. In between these periods of extreme cold the climate warmed enough for some animals that are found today on the plains of Africa to inhabit the area around the Bristol Channel. Much of the climatic story has been obtained from sediment cores taken from offshore areas that were never covered by ice while a lot of the fossil evidence for what animals were inhabiting Wales at the time come from deposits in caves.
