# Glacier extension during the Last Glacial Maximum (Würm period)

A map of a former edition of the Atlas of Switzerland, the national atlas published by ETH Zurich. It opens only in the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS, not in the web atlas; see the links below.

- Map: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/glacier-extension-during-the-last-glacial-maximum-wuerm-period/
- Short title: Last Glacial Maximum (Würm)
- Map id: 198
- Categories: Nature and Environment › Ice and Snow › Glacier history
- Keywords: Glaciation, Ice age
- Published: 2016-06-16
- Last revised: 2017-10-31
- Content language: English
- Other languages: [Deutsch](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/de/thema/gletscherausdehnung-des-letzten-eiszeitlichen-maximums-wuerm.md), [Français](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/fr/theme/extension-des-glaciers-lors-du-dernier-maximum-glaciaire-wuerm.md), [Italiano](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/it/tema/estensione-del-ghiacciai-durante-lultimo-massimo-dellepoca-glaciale-wuerm.md)

## Description

Maximum extent of glaciation was generally reached during the Elsterian/Mindel glaciation. However, the Saale/Riss glaciers fluctuated beyond the Elster terminal moraine at several places and achieved local maximum values. So it was that the inland ice shield advanced along the Rhine from the north as far as the mid–range mountains of central Europe. The inland ice shield, which covered the northern part of Europe during the Ice Age, originated in Scandinavia, not at the North Pole. Small centres of glaciation (known as ice caps) were also situated over the British Isles, while the Faroe Islands and Iceland even had their own ice caps. The nordic ice shield covered a maximum area of 6.5 mill. km².
The Sierra Nevadas, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Alps, the Vosges, the Black Forest, Corsica, the Apennines, the Cantabrian Mountains, the Rhodope Mountains (Balkans), Olympus, the Albanian Alps, Bohemian Forest, the High Tatras and the Carpathian Mountains were all affected by alpine glaciations, while parts of northern Asia (Siberia), North America and Patagonia were glaciated as well. The Ice Age glaciers covered a maximal surface area of 55 mill. km² globally, while the current ice cover amounts to approx. 15 mill. km² in area.
The Ice Age was not just in evidence in glaciated or periglacial areas, it was the consequence of a climatic change which affected the entire world to varying degrees. This can be clearly seen from the vegetation zones which were displaced southward: mediterranean vegetation is found today where mixed forest once existed. There was no alpine tree line, and the boreal tree line was situated south of the Alps. Unconsolidated glacial materials were found in the ice-free zones between the glaciated alpine region and the ice shield, or the area was characterized by tundra or loess tundra landscapes. Loess was transported by the wind from the moraine regions and the vast debris surfaces of the glaciers and deposited in the ice-free regions. Tundras were the natural habitat of several large mammals such as the mammoth, the cave bear, the bison, the woolly rhinoceros and the caribou.
The portion of water retained as glacier ice was greater during the Ice Age than during the interglacial periods, which caused the mean sea level to drop. Vast sections of the continental shelf thus became part of the mainland. It is assumed that during the Riss glacial stage, the mean sea level was a maximum of 130-150 m, and during the Würm glacial stage 80-90 m, lower than it is today. Sardinia and Corsica were one island, not two, and the Strait of Messina, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles were land bridges.

## Sources

- Pfiffner (2004): Schweizer Weltatlas Kommentar

## Data sources

- swisstopo (2008): [Letzteiszeiliches Maximum](http://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/internet/swisstopo/de/home/products/maps/national/500.html)
- swisstopo [J160089] (2015): [DHM25](https://shop.swisstopo.admin.ch/de/products/height_models/dhm25)

## Data owners

- [Swiss Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo)](http://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/)

## Citation

The terms of use ask to name the Atlas of Switzerland and the data owners, and to keep the source references in exports, screenshots and embeds. Cite the map as:

> Atlas of Switzerland (2017): Glacier extension during the Last Glacial Maximum (Würm period). ETH Zürich. Map data © swisstopo. https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/glacier-extension-during-the-last-glacial-maximum-wuerm-period/

## Links

- Map page, with the description and sources and a button that opens the map in the desktop atlas: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/glacier-extension-during-the-last-glacial-maximum-wuerm-period/
- Open the map in the desktop atlas (version 4), where it is installed: adsglobe://map/198
- Download of the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/ads4-download/

For the use and citation of maps and data, see the [terms of use](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/terms-of-use/).