What is the importance of the Pleistocene ice age epoch to the modern day?
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Answers may vary because of the long-lasting influence.
During the Pleistocene, almost a third of the Earth's land surface was buried beneath ice sheets and glaciers. This epoch began approximately 1.65 million years ago and consisted of at least 18 expansions and retreats of ice sheets over much of Europe and North America. The ice sheets disappeared about 7,000 years ago, leaving important landscape remnants behind.
Among the features that resulted from the Pleistocen glaciation are the five Great Lakes in North America, which formed as repeated glaciation enlarged and deepened stream valleys to form the future lake basins. Sea levels were also much lower (100 m; 330 ft) than today.
In areas that are now arid, there was much more rainfall, contributing to the formation of several very large pluvial lakes, such as Lake Bonneville and Lake Lahontan. The Great Salt Lake is one of several remnants of Lake Bonneville. As the conditions changes, these lakes mostly dried up.
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