Ground Zero Reveals Ice Age Evidence

After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, it is hard to imagine anything good rising from the ashes, now dubbed Ground Zero. However crews currently involved in the excavation process for the new skyscraper that will grow on the site have discovered evidence of the last ice age to affect North America.

Crews have apparently discovered evidence carved into the bedrock of glaciers that date back to 20,000 years ago, a time when ice sheets extended close to the equator. In addition, workers also discovered a 40-foot-deep pothole.

"There are areas in local parks that have small vertical potholes exposed," Cheryl J. Moss, the senior geologist at Mueser Rutledge, told The New York Times. "But I'm not aware of anything in the city with a whole, self-contained depression on this scale."

Ice ages are, glacialogically speaking, a point in time when ice-sheets exist on Earth. Subsequently, we are, strictly speaking, still in an ice age. However a broader view of ice ages refer to the periods where ice sheets stretch down from the poles and cover North America and Eurasia. Of these, the last known ice age began about 110,000 years ago and ended between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.

The Ground Zero evidence points to glaciers dating back to the Last Glacial Maximum, the point 20,000 years ago when the ice sheets were at their maximum. The ice sheet most likely to have left the evidence of glaciations would be the Laurentide Ice Sheet, a massive ice sheet that is known to have covered most of Canada, stretching down to the modern sites of New York City and Chicago.

Another fact of note is that the Laurentide Ice Sheet was also responsible, in part, for the Younger Dryas period over Europe. In retreating, the Laurentide Ice Sheet left behind masses of fresh water. One particular inland lake, Lake Agassiz, broke its banks and flooded, via the Susquehanna River and the Saint Lawrence, the North Atlantic, temporarily disrupting the currents which brought warmer water north which, in turn, warmed Europe.

The discovery of past glaciers in New York came when workers exposed the solid rock beneath Ground Zero, a necessary part of the construction process for the new Tower 4 of the new World Trade Center. "You want to make sure you're not perching something on a ledge," said Anthony Pontecorvo, a supervising structural engineer.

And though all evidence is being destroyed or filled in by workers, it has given scientists a rare look into the power of glaciers, and their visit to North America.

Posted by Josh Hill.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26844329/

Comments

[MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ]

ICE AGE== KEEP ON DREAMING. I GUESS ITS TIME TO WAKE YOU UP.==OUR UNIVERSE HAS BEEN VISITED BY ALIENS FOR OVER 400 YEARS. OUT OF THE DEEP BLUE EACH ON EACH PLANET HAS HAD BEEN GIVEN INFORMATION TO BUILD AND LAUNCH A COMET FOR WHAT YOU CALL A ASTERIOD, BUT IS BETTER KNOWN AS A LARGE COLONY OF ALIENS WITH THEIR CULTURES AND HIGHLY SOPHISICATED TECHNOLOGY. OUR SYSTEM IS BEING QUIETLY INVADED USEING NATURE AGAINST US. THEY HAVE BEAMS FROM EARTH FROM NEAR THE SEA INLAND UNDERWATER CAVES TO DRY LAND RUNNING BEAMS UP TO WEAKEN THE OZONE IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS FOR THE PLANETS ROTATION TO SLOWLY KEEP THE BEAMS ON THE OZONE. AT THE SAME TIME DISASTERS ARE MAGNIFYING TO DESTROY MORE LIFE FORMS. IN MY OPINION IN LESS THAN 15 YEARS ALL SEA-LEVEL NOW DRY LAND WILL BE UNDER SALTWATER, UNLESS WE SUCK UP ALL THE LOOSE SAND FROM THE OCEAN AT LEAST 3 MILES FROM 150 FEET FROM SHORE ON ALL CONTINENTS. OTHERWISE YOU CAN KISS OUR SPECIES GOODBY. WHAT THE ALIENS ARE WAITING FOR WILL NEVER GET HERE, BECAUSE 3 COMETS ARE ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH THEIR COLONIES. YOU CAN EITHER START ON THIS QUEST TO SAVE OUR YOUNG OUR SPECIES OR WATCH US ALL DIE. HAVE A NICE DAY. MIKE

[MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ]

I HAVE ALL THE SOLUTIONS TO ALL THE DISASTERS, IF YOUR INTERESTED, MY GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION I FREELY GIVE AWAY. THE HURRICANE KILLER IS PATENTED= I SUGGEST YOU USE IT WHERE THE HURRICANES ARE FORMED, I ALSO GIVE AWAY MY FRESH WATER SOLUTION AND MY FAST FLOOD RELIEF PLAN AND THE RIVER FLOOD PLAN, PLUS A FEW OTHERS WILL COST YOU $35,000.00 EACH, BUT MY SOLUTION TO DELETE EARTHQUAKES WILL COST EVERYONE $35 BILLION SO I CAN START MY GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION IN MANY COUNTRIES. FOR CHINA MY PRICE IS TO FREE TIBET AND ALL ITS PEOPLE WITHOUT HARM OR ITS $5 TRILLION AMERICAN DOLLARS. THE EARTHQUAKE SOLUTION IS BEST USED IN NEW ZEALAND WHERE THE SOURCE OF ALL EARTHQUAKES ARE. I'M NEAR THE PACIFIC COASTLINE IN A TOWN CALLED SOUTH BEND, WASHINGTON. SO THAT MAYBE I CAN AFFORD TO START MY SOLUTION. HAVE A NICE DAY. MIKE

[Capt America]

Hay Mike save us all for free man, your part of the human race, come on help us all!

[Kris]

Hey Mike- Where do I send the check for your solutions? I have a few million dollars and would love to invest in your great ideas.

[12-21-2012]

hey mike-what kinda world do you live in?? i guess you put down your video game controller long enough to come up with that crap. its not aliens that are trying to wipe us out....its obviously George Bush and his evil twin John McCain....but believe what you will

[Gil Haertel]

our friend Mike has truly been visited by aliens.....

[Frank]

Actually, the maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last (Wisconsin) ice age was just south of present-day NYC.

[nalle]

que dijo??????