Ice ages have occurred from "summary" of A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson
It is a fact that ice ages have occurred. Scientists believe that over the past 2.4 billion years, the Earth has experienced at least five major ice ages. The most recent of these ice ages began about 2.4 million years ago and continues to the present day. These ice ages were not caused by a decrease in global temperatures, but rather by a complex interplay of factors including the Earth's orbit, the tilt of its axis, and changes in the amount of solar radiation it receives. During an ice age, large portions of the Earth's surface are covered in ice sheets and glaciers, causing sea levels to drop and drastically altering the landscape. The most recent ice age, known as the Pleistocene Epoch, was characterized by a series of glacial advances and retreats, with ice sheets covering much of North America, Europe, and Asia at their peak. One of the key pieces of evidence for the occurrence of ice ages is the presence of glacial deposits in regions that are now far too warm for glaciers to exist. These deposits, known as glacial erratics,...
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