Last Glacial Maximum

The interval, roughly 26,500 to 19,000 years ago, when global ice sheets reached their greatest extent during the last glacial period.

Laurentide Ice Sheet: A vast ice sheet that covered much of Canada and parts of the northern United States during the last glacial period. Its maximum extent reshaped North America and helped define the LGM’s global ice coverage.
Last Glacial Maximum sea level: The global mean sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum, roughly 120 meters below present level. Water stored in continental ice exposed large areas of the continental shelves.
Last Glacial Maximum in North America: The regional expression of the LGM across North America, including extensive continental ice and exposed shelf landscapes. The Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets produced a distinctive continental-scale record.
Last Glacial Period: The most recent prolonged interval of repeated glacial advances, spanning roughly 115,000 to 11,700 years ago. The LGM is a short peak within this much longer glacial period.
Radiocarbon dating: A method for dating once-living materials by measuring their radioactive carbon-14 content. It dates many organic records used to establish the timing of LGM conditions.
Fennoscandian Ice Sheet: The ice sheet that covered Scandinavia and adjacent parts of northern Europe during the last glacial period. Its expansion was a major part of the LGM’s European ice maximum.
Bering Land Bridge: The exposed land connection between northeastern Asia and northwestern North America during periods of low sea level. LGM-era sea-level fall exposed the route later used in human migration into the Americas.
Last Glacial Maximum in Europe: The regional expression of the LGM across Europe, including the Fennoscandian ice sheet and periglacial zones. European ice limits and environmental zones show that the maximum varied by region.
Last Glacial Maximum in the Alps: The regional glacier maximum in the European Alps, dated through local landforms and deposits. Alpine glacier maxima do not necessarily coincide exactly with the global ice-sheet maximum.
Cosmogenic nuclide dating: A method that estimates how long a rock surface has been exposed using isotopes produced by cosmic rays. It dates glacially exposed rocks and constrains the timing of ice retreat.

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