Cause Of The Big Freeze Confirmed, Scientists Say
Thursday, April 1, 2010 - 14:42
in Earth & Climate
The rapid global cooling period nearly 13,000 years ago known as the Big Freeze, or Younger Dryas, was triggered by melt-water from the Laurentide ice sheet which was channeled into the oceans by a mega-flood path across North America, say researchers writing in Nature. The research team discovered that a mega-flood, caused by the melting of the Laurentide ice sheet, was routed up into Canada and into the Arctic Ocean. This resulted in huge amounts of fresh water mixing with the salt water of the Arctic Ocean. As a result, more sea-ice was created which flowed into the North Atlantic, causing the northward continuation of the Gulf Stream to shut down. read more