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Countries with Glaciers during the Ice Ages

List all countries that supported ice sheets or mountain glaciers during the pleistocene glaciations, including countries that still are glaciated.
Countries are split into two categories, continental, for countries with extensive ice sheets at or near sea level, and mountain, for countries that only supported ice sheets on mountaintops. Countries marked as continental often have mountain glaciers as well
Answers marked with a question mark are sources of debate, or scientists think that glaciation is plausible, but there have been no in depth surveys to confirm
The continent is the continent in which glaciers could be found, not the continent of the country as a whole. Overseas territories are not included..
Quiz by Kearsarge
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Last updated: September 9, 2023
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First submittedNovember 2, 2021
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Average score80.0%
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Continent
Type
Answer
Asia
Mountain
Afghanistan
Europe
Mountain
Albania
Africa
Mountain
Algeria
Europe
Mountain
Andorra
South America
Continental
Argentina
Asia
Mountain
Armenia
Oceania
Mountain
Australia
Europe
Mountain
Austria
Asia
Mountain
Azerbaijan
Europe
Continental
Belarus
Asia
Mountain
Bhutan
South America
Mountain
Bolivia
Europe
Mountain
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Europe
Mountain
Bulgaria
Africa
Mountain
Cameroon (?)
North America
Continental
Canada
South America
Continental
Chile
Asia
Continental
China
South America
Mountain
Colombia
North America
Mountain
Costa Rica
Europe
Mountain
Croatia
Europe
Mountain
Czechia
Africa
Mountain
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Europe
Continental
Denmark
North America
Mountain
Dominican Republic (?)
South America
Mountain
Ecuador
Europe
Continental
Estonia
Africa
Mountain
Ethiopia
Europe
Continental
Finland
Europe
Mountain
France
Asia
Mountain
Georgia
Europe
Mountain
Germany
Europe
Mountain
Greece
North America
Mountain
Guatemala
Europe
Continental
Iceland
Asia
Mountain
India
Asia
Mountain
Indonesia
Asia
Mountain
Iran
Asia
Mountain
Iraq
Europe
Continental
Ireland
Europe
Mountain
Italy
Asia
Mountain
Japan
Asia
Mountain
Kazakhstan
Africa
Mountain
Kenya
Europe
Mountain
Kosovo
Continent
Type
Answer
Asia
Mountain
Kyrgyzstan
Europe
Continental
Latvia
Asia
Mountain
Lebanon
Africa
Mountain
Lesotho (?)
Europe
Mountain
Liechtenstein
Europe
Continental
Lithuania
Asia
Mountain
Malaysia
North America
Mountain
Mexico
Asia
Mountain
Mongolia
Europe
Mountain
Montenegro
Africa
Mountain
Morocco
Asia
Mountain
Myanmar
Asia
Mountain
Nepal
Europe
Continental
Netherlands
Oceania
Mountain
New Zealand
Asia
Mountain
North Korea (?)
Europe
Mountain
North Macedonia
Europe
Continental
Norway
Asia
Mountain
Pakistan
North America
Mountain
Panama(?)
Oceania
Mountain
Papua New Guinea
South America
Mountain
Peru
Europe
Continental
Poland
Europe
Mountain
Portugal
Europe
Mountain
Romania
Europe/Asia
Continental
Russia
Europe
Mountain
Serbia
Europe
Mountain
Slovakia
Europe
Mountain
Slovenia
Europe
Mountain
Spain
Africa
Mountain
Sudan (?)
Europe
Continental
Sweden
Europe
Mountain
Switzerland
Asia
Mountain
Syria (?)
Asia
Mountain
Taiwan
Asia
Mountain
Tajikistan
Africa
Mountain
Tanzania
Asia
Mountain
Turkey
Africa
Mountain
Uganda
Europe
Mountain
Ukraine
Europe
Continental
United Kingdom
North America
Continental
United States
Asia
Mountain
Uzbekistan
South America
Mountain
Venezuela
Asia
Mountain
Yemen (?)
13 Comments
+5
Level 68
Nov 2, 2021
With regards to the question marks:

There seem to have been a series of studies going back and forth relating to there possibly having been a few tiny glaciers in the high mountains of the Dominican Republic.

Panama has terrain at similar elevations to formerly glaciated terrain in Costa Rica, leading scientists to think there might have been some small ones, but there has been no real search for glaciated landforms.

There is some fairly weak evidence for small glaciers in the Drakensburg of Lesotho, in the highest elevations of Yemen, and maybe on Mount Cameroon, or Sudan, though I was unable to find the original study for this, only secondary ones mentioning that it was a possibility.

I did find a study covering glaciation on Mount Hermon, which is shared between Lebanon, Syria, and maybe Israel. The location of these glaciers is not entirely clear from the paper. I guess they are probably in Lebanon, given that the Lebanese side is wetter, but I was not able to confirm.

+3
Level 68
Nov 2, 2021
To continue, The Israeli claims stop several thousand feet short of the summit, well below the described physical limits of the Mount Hermon glaciers. Lebanon is not marked with a question mark as Mount Lebanon, fully in Lebanon, has pretty clear glaciation.

Finally, North Korea. For obvious reasons, I was unable to find papers on pleistocene glaciation there. It is the only one that I based off of what I could personally find on google maps. I was able to find what look like textbook glacial cirques in the Hamyong Mountains of North Korea, so I interpreted those as originating in the Pleistocene. I might be mistaken, so this one is marked with a question mark. If anyone wants to check, there are three "cirque" features roughly a kilometer northwest of Kwanmo Peak

+1
Level 66
Nov 3, 2021
Needs more time - another two minutes just to type all the right answers, never mind the wrong ones.
+1
Level 65
Sep 5, 2022
uzbekistan and china?
+1
Level 68
Sep 5, 2022
Great catch. Honestly a little embarrassing that I was able to find info on glaciation in places like the Dominican Republic, but forgot to include those countries, both of which should have been glaciated at least in part.
+2
Level 60
Sep 8, 2023
No Pakistan?
+2
Level 70
Sep 8, 2023
This was very interesting. Do you mind sharing your main source, would like to read up more on this?
+2
Level 68
Sep 8, 2023
I don't think I had a single main source for this. I used a glaciology textbook (Bennet and Glasser, Glacial Geology), the wikipedia page on the last glacial maximum, along with an older Quaternary Geology text I found for the basics, then mostly just searched countries individually in Google Scholar, looking for the keywords "Pleistocene last glacial maximum glaciation COUNTRY" and then adding countries based on what I could find there.

As far as specific sources go:

For Pleistocene glaciation in Africa. I used Groos et al 2021,

https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abb6826

This paper focuses on E. Africa specifically, and makes vague references to other parts of Africa

I am pretty sure I used (Sarikaya and Ciner 2015) for Lebanon, Syria, Israel etc.

https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/sp433.4

I believe I used the below paper for Central America

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1571086604801180

(Lachniet, 2004)

+2
Level 68
Sep 8, 2023
Here are some other specific sources for places:

Malaysia

(Stauffer, 1968)

https://archives.datapages.com/data/geological-society-of-malaysia/bulletins/001/001001/pdfs/63.htm

Papua New Guinea

Barrow et al 2011.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379111001685

Dominican Republic, (Schubert and Medina 1982)

Evidence of Quaternary glaciation in the Dominican Republic: Some implications for Caribbean paleoclimatology

This one seems to be pretty controversial, as I was able to find other papers disagreeing with it.

Taiwan

(Cui et al 2002)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618202000605

+2
Level 66
Sep 8, 2023
Great quiz. But I am sure that there were glaciers in the Netherlands too during the Saale glaciation --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saale_glaciation
+1
Level 68
Sep 8, 2023
Hmm. My missing the Netherlands is probably an artifact of assuming that the LGM was the maximum extent of glaciation worldwide. I knew it wasn't for the US, the Nebraskan and Kansan glaciations were both more extensive, but never made the connection for the rest of the world.
+1
Level 72
Sep 8, 2023
Great quiz! Really liked the explanation
+1
Level 77
Sep 8, 2023
Darn it, Liechtenstein, the spelling always trips me up!!