glacial epoch

American  

[gley-shuhl ep-uhk, ee-pok] / ˈgleɪ ʃəl ˈɛp ək, ˈi pɒk /

noun

1. Also called ice age.  Also called glacial period,.  the geologically recent Pleistocene Epoch, during which much of the Northern Hemisphere was covered by great ice sheets.

2. any one of the Permian, Carboniferous, Cambrian, or Precambrian glaciations.

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Etymology

Origin of glacial epoch

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

The Salmon is a tributary of the mighty Columbia River, which would have been the first large waterway encountered by people who made it south of the ice sheets during the last glacial epoch.

From Nature • Sep. 7, 2015

The Pleistocene glacial epoch began at about 2.6 Ma, which is equivalent to half the thickness of the thin grey line at the top of the yellow bar marked “Cenozoic.”

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

It was a glacial epoch: the last continental ice sheet, retreating from northern Germany and Britain, still covered Scandinavia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Professor Blanc's discovery near Rome not only predates Homer but may even date back to Java man, who roamed the Southeast Asiatic area in the early part of the glacial epoch.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sometime during the last glacial epoch, when hunter-gatherers were still living in caves, the Neanderthal tool-making mentality gave way to the Cro-Magnon urge to make images.

From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell