Photo 1. Today, the bottom of Velo Snižno, a glaciokarst basin not far from Platak in the Rijeka hinterland, is covered with Pleistocene deposits. At certain times during the Pleistocene, the basin was blanketed by a thick sheet of ice. (Photo by M. Randić)

A Short Glossary of Ice-age Terms:

WHAT IS THE PLEISTOCENE?

THE PLEISTOCENE is a geological epoch in the history of the Earth. It was the time of the last (Pleistocene) glaciation, lasting from 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago. The epoch left an enduring imprint, still visible in today’s world. Deteriorating climate conditions at the end of the Pliocene continued into the early Pleistocene, bringing about large migrations and resulting not only in extinctions (the mammoth, cave bear, cave lion) in all likelihood due to global climate change, but also in the appearances of new plant and animal taxa.

There were several glacials and interglacials during the Pleistocene. The glacials that had the greatest impact on Alpine and neighbouring regions (including the north-west region of the Dinarides) are the Günz, Mindel, Riss and Würm.

The end of the Pleistocene saw an improvement in climate conditions. The epoch that followed is the Holocene, in which we live today. Many remnants of the Pleistocene epoch can be found in the County of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, such as the traces of bygone glaciers in today relief, the skeletal remains of extinct Pleistocene animals, and traces of the activities of ice-age people.

N. T. and M. R.

Photo 2. Glacial erratics indicate that the ice covering the Velo Snižno basin in the Pleistocene flowed. The ice carried the erratic boulders from distant places and deposited them where they sit today.  (Photo by M. Randić)