Several scientists pointed out that during most of the past 10, 000 years, the time period since the last full-blown ice age glaciation ended, global temperatures were warmer than today.

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Melott says that although the Northern hemisphere would have been left untouched by the first pulse of the extinction, he notes that, later, glaciation and sea level change would have had an impact everywhere.

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The work builds on previous surveys established by the British Geological Survey (BGS), which has shown that the present-day landscape of this region has been strongly shaped by Quaternary glaciation particularly over the past 500, 000 years.

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Subsequent analysis showed that the lake was 50km wide, 225km long, 500 metres deep, and at least 2m years old though new data presented to the workshop suggest that its age may be closer to 15m years, and that it could even predate the glaciation of Antarctica, which occurred around 40m years ago.

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