Global Sea Levels
To form the ice sheets of the last Ice Age, water from the oceans evaporated, condensed as snow and was deposited as ice in high latitudes. Thus global sea level fell during glaciation.
The ice sheets at the last glacial maximum were so massive that global sea level fell by about 120 metres. Thus continental shelves were exposed and many islands became connected with the continents through dry land. This was the case between the British Isles and Europe, or between Taiwan, the Indonesian islands and Asia. A sub-continent also existed between Siberia and Alaska that allowed the migration of people and animals during the last glacial maximum.
The fall in sea level also affects the circulation of ocean currents and thus has important impact on climate during the Ice Age.
During deglaciation, the melted ice water returns to the oceans, thus sea level in the ocean increases again. However, geological records of sea level changes show that the redistribution of the melted ice water is not the same everywhere in the oceans. In other words, depending upon the location, the rise in sea level at a certain site may be more than that at another site. This is due to the gravitational attraction between the mass of the melted water and the other masses, such as remaining ice sheets, glaciers, water masses and mantle rocks and the changes in centrifugal potential due to Earth's variable rotation.
Read more about this topic: Post-glacial Rebound, Effects
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