What did the earths surface look like during the Pliocene time period?

Answer 1

The Quaternary Period encompasses the last 2.6 million years. The continents have been in about the same positions during the period. Animal life has changed tremendously with many of the large mammals going extinct after the last ice age ended about ten thousand years ago.

Answer 2

Glaciers spread over more than one-fourth of the land surface of Earth during the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period, covering North America south into what is now the middle of the US. Northern Germany, western Russia, the British Isles, and most of Siberia were ice-covered along with the Arctic and Antarctic regions and most of the high mountain peaks of the world. Valleys were scooped out of the surface of Earth by the momentum of the enormous glaciers. Those valleys remain today as lakes and canyons. During the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period, beginning about 10,000 years ago and continuing to the present time, melting ice caused the sea level to rise a hundred feet or more and mountains eroded to their present forms.
The Quaternary Period(2,588Ka - Now) is the current geological period in which we live. It is subdivided into 2 epochs, the Pleistocene Epoch(2,588 - 12 Ka) and the Holocene Epoch (12Ka - now).

The continental positions have changed very little in the 2.5 million years since the start of the Quaternary. The environment however has been in a constant flux.

The Pleistocene Epoch (2,588 - 12Ka)

The Pleistocene is marked by cold glacial periods intermixed with warmer interglacial periods. Glaciers in the Northern hemisphere have grown and receded all through the period. As a result sea levels have changed dramatically. About 75,000 to 65,000 years ago the sea levels dropped making land routes available where before they were underwater. This is suspected to be the catalyse for modern man to leave Africa and colonize every corner of earth.

The Holocene Epoch (12Ka - Now)

This is the current epoch. After the environmental flux in the Pleistocene, the Holocene has been quite stable. The glaciers have been quite stable in the last 12,000 years and therefore sea levels have remained relatively stable.

This may be changing however. Probably due to human made pollution and carbon dioxide, in the last 100 years we have seen gradual and constant temperature rises and average sea level rises due to melting ice sheets. Scientists have estimated that this will continue in the foreseeable future unless we act to stop pollution now.

Answer 3

It was cold and there were 2-3 ice ages. The woolly mammoth, woolly rhino, and other extinct animals evolved in this period. it is divided into two periods, the Pleistocene which is the ice age and the Holocene or the present time. the hippo was one of the many animals to survive this age. other animals such as the elephant and rhinoceroses also survived. This period started about 2.6 million years ago. On the time line this is just a scratch.

Answer 4

As this is the Quaternary period - take a look around.

Answer 5

That period encompasses a very long time and starts with the earth covered in Glaciers, later came the decline of the Glaciers and the rise of man.

Answer 6

umm.. it was a hole bunch of land things and it looked pretty amazing from my perspective o.k.?