Glaciation.

Essay by stewie23High School, 12th gradeA+, October 2005

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Introduction.

The Capilano valley has fascinated me for many years. So when I was assigned this field study project, I could not think of a better place to do it on.

It was during my first geography class about glaciation, that I asked myself "Has the Capilano valley been glaciated?" In that lesson, I decided to do my research project on the mesmerizing Capilano Valley. I also chose this interesting question to be my hypothesis.

This hypothesis is related to Geography as this subject covers information about the interactions of water and land.

Although the topic I have chosen may seem to be not as original as one might expect. It is actually very original because of the unique way I chose to present it.

I researched the date for this project by visiting the Capilano valley and taking pictures of the evidence of glaciation. No samples were taken from the area in order to preserve the well-balanced eco-system of the Capilano Park.

Glaciation

During the last billion years of Earth history there have been several periods where global average temperatures were much colder than they are today. The colder climates lead to the formation an expansion of extensive continental and alpine glaciers. The last period of glacial advance began about 2 million years ago. For the past 14,000 years we have been experiencing a warming of the global climate which has lead to a retreat of glaciers.

Various types of paleoclimatic evidence suggest that the climate of the Earth has varied over time. The data suggests that during most of the Earth's history, global temperatures were probably 8 to 15 deg Celsius warmer than they are today. However, there were periods of times when the Earth's average global temperature became cold. Cold enough for the formation of alpine glaciers...