During the last billion years there have been ice ages at approximately 250-million-year intervals. For about nine tenths of this period the climate has been more congenial (from a human viewpoint) than it is today. Climatic change may be a result of astronomical, solar, geophysical or atmospheric causes. Large-scale climatic changes shifted the ranges occupied by the different air masses and consequently changed the boundaries of the major vegetation regions. Evidence from a variety of sources indicate that climatic change in Nova Scotia since the most recent retreat of the continental ice sheet occurred in distinct time periods. As the ice sheet melted, tundra vegetation colonized the bare ground. Temperatures gradually rose, and this vegetation was replaced, first by birch, then by spruce, and finally by pine, hemlock and oak. A gradual cooling then saw the return of spruce, birch and beech.

Current climatic conditions in Nova Scotia are described in more detail in T5 Climate.

This Document Includes:

11,000 To 10,000 Years Before Present (YR. BP): The Younger Dryas
10,000 To 8000 YR. BP: Early Hypsithermal
8000 To 4000 YR. BP: Hypsithermal Interval
4000 YR. BP To Present: Post-Hypsithermal

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Additional Keywords:
tundra, birch, spruce, maple, pine, hemlock, oak, beech, glacier, permanent snowfields, mastodon, global warming, Maritime Archaic, Little Ice Age, sea-level

Associated Topics:

T2.1 Introduction to Geological History of Nova Scotia
T3.3 Glaciation, Deglaciation and Sea-level Changes
T4.2 Post-glacial Colonization of Plants
T4.3 Post-glacial Colonization by Animals
T5.2 Nova Scotia's Climate
T12.1 Colonization By People
T12.5 Climate and Resources