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 Test Bank for Compensation, 10 Edition : Milkovich
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ch1
1. Which of the following includes restrictions on executive pay that are designed to discourage executives
from taking "unnecessary and excessive risks"?

A. Corporate Welfare Program

B. Employee Welfare Program
C. Troubled Asset Relief Program
D. Corporate Liability Relief Program
2. According to the text, if women had the same education, experience, and union coverage as men and also
worked in the same industries and occupations, they would be expected to earn about of what men
earn.

A. 62%
B. 70%
C. 80%
D. 90%
3. Hourly compensation costs for manufacturing workers are higher in than the U.S.

A. Norway
B. Japan
C. Spain
D. Singapore
4. Hourly compensation costs for manufacturing workers are lower in than the U.S.

A. Korea
B. Norway
C. Sweden
D. Netherlands
5. When executives decide where to locate a manufacturing plant, the most important consideration is:

A. hourly compensation costs

B. labor productivity
C. strength of local labor unions
D. cost of government mandated benefits
6. would be most concerned about executive pay.

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A. Managers
B. Employees
C. Society
D. Stockholders

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7. would be most concerned about compensation as a major expense.

A. Managers
B. Employees
C. Society
D. Stockholders
8. The primary reason compensation is important to managers is because:

A. employees regard it as a reward.

B. it influences employee behavior.
C. it is a larger cost than benefits.
D. stock holders dislike high compensation costs.
9. Employees view compensation as all but which of the following?

A. A return
B. An entitlement
C. A reward
D. An investment
10. The degree to which pay influences individual and aggregate motivation among the employees at any point
in time is referred to as:

A. sorting effect.
B. incentive effect.
C. motivational effect.
D. directional effect.
11. In China, compensation, dai yu, has come to mean

A. entitlement and benefits.

B. cash compensation.
C. returns and entitlement.
D. cash compensation and relational returns.
12. In Japanese companies, the concept of teate is consistent with which of the following?

A. Sophisticated performance appraisal systems

B. A strong emphasis on performance pay
C. Family, housing and commuting allowances
D. Rapid promotions
13. Which of the following is an example of a relational return?

A. Short-term incentives
B. Recognition and status
C. Work-life balance
D. Income protection

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14. Which of the following are given as increments to the base pay in recognition of past work behavior?

A. Base pay
B. Cost-of-living adjustments
C. Merit pay
D. Incentives
15. Which form of pay is likely to be least expensive for employers?

A. Incentive
B. Merit pay
C. Cost-of-living adjustments
D. Base pay
16. Employees who want to be sure their good performance will be rewarded will prefer

A. merit pay.
B. team incentives.
C. individual incentives.
D. across-the-board pay increases.
17. Variable pay may also be called

A. exempt
B. non-exempt
C. stock options
D. incentives
18. Which of the following is the largest component in an executive pay package?

A. Base pay
B. Stock options
C. Merit pay
D. Perks
19. A company that says its relatively low starting pay will be offset by larger future pay increases is using the
concept of .

A. present-value
B. merit pay
C. incentives
D. deferred benefits
20. All of the following have direct financial costs for an employer except:

A. benefits
B. relational returns
C. work-life balance
D. income protection

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21. Which of the following is not an objective in the pay model?

A. Fairness
B. Compliance
C. Efficiency
D. Productivity
22. Costs are to management as is to alignment.

A. work analysis
B. communication
C. surveys
D. merit guidelines
23. Market definitions are to competitiveness as performance based is to .

A. alignment
B. compliance
C. efficiency
D. contributions
24. Which of the following is not a policy in the pay model?

A. Fairness
B. Competitiveness
C. Contributions
D. Alignment
25. Performance, quality, customers, stockholders and costs are components of which of the objectives of the
pay model?

A. Fairness
B. Compliance
C. Efficiency
D. Competitiveness
26. implies that the way a pay decision is made may be as important to employees as the results of that
decision.

A. Fairness
B. Compliance
C. Efficiency
D. Competitiveness
27. refers to comparisons among jobs or skills inside a single organization.

A. External competitiveness
B. Internal alignment
C. Pay structure
D. Equitable contributions

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28. Which of the following policy choices has the greatest effect on employees' decisions to stay with the
organization and to seek additional training and responsibilities?

A. External competitiveness
B. Employee contributions
C. Internal alignment
D. Job evaluation
29. Managers seek internal alignment within their organization by:

A. matching competitors' pay rates.

B. following FLSA guidelines.
C. using fair merit increases.
D. paying on the basis of similarities among jobs.
30. Compensation policy choices affecting pay level are most closely associated with .

A. internal alignment
B. external competitiveness
C. contributions
D. management
31. Sam's Club matches the pay of other similar businesses, Whole Foods uses base pay and team incentives
and Medtronic emphasizes work and life balance. These illustrate pay policy choices.

A. cost control
B. internal alignment
C. contributions
D. external competitiveness
32. Choices among pay for performance, flat rate pay and profit sharing are examples of policy
decisions.

A. internal alignment
B. efficiency
C. employee contributions
D. management
33. Which of the following decisions directly affects employees' attitudes and work behaviors?

A. Employee contributions
B. Internal alignment
C. External competitiveness
D. Management
34. According to the text, which of the following decisions should be made jointly?

A. Internal alignment and Management.

B. External competitiveness and Employee contribution
C. Employee contribution and Internal alignment
D. Management and External competitiveness

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35. Which of the following decisions answers the "So What" question?

A. Internal alignment
B. Employee contributions
C. External competitiveness
D. Management
36. If an organization allows workers to get rewards such as stock options due to illegal and unethical means,
this reflects a failure of which policy choice?

A. Internal alignment
B. Efficiency
C. Employee contributions
D. Management
37. You are an HR manager and your boss has told you to find the best way to raise job performance. After
some research you find that produce(s) the largest and most reliable performance increases.

A. high base pay

B. great benefits that attract and retain workers
C. a combination of goal setting and job enrichment
D. monetary incentives
38. Which of the following is not a guideline for determining if research has value?

A. Is the research useful

B. Can alternative explanations be ruled out
C. Was the research conducted by Ph D researchers
D. Is correlation separated from causation
39. A measure of how changes in one variable are related to changes in another variable is:

A. standard deviation
B. analysis of variance
C. correlation coefficient
D. regression analysis
40. The best way to establish is to account for competing explanations, either statistically or through
control groups.

A. causation
B. profitability
C. correlation coefficient
D. internal alignment
41. The U.S. has the highest hourly compensation costs for manufacturing workers of any industrialized nation.

True False
42. Since the U.S. has the highest hourly compensation costs for manufacturing workers of any industrialized
nation, executives could minimize total labor costs by producing in low cost countries such as China and
Mexico.

True False

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43. Compensation is important to managers' success because it is a major cost and it influences employee
behavior.

True False
44. Challenging work and employment security are examples of total compensation.

True False
45. Employees classified as non-exempt under FLSA are paid a salary, not wages.

True False
46. If you often had to work 50 or more hours per week at an assembly job, you would probably prefer to that
your job is classified as exempt under the FLSA.

True False
47. Most U. S. firms use merit pay increases.

True False
48. A bonus promised by your boss if costs are below your budget is a merit increase.

True False
49. In practice, there is no real difference between merit pay increases and cost-of-living adjustments.

True False
50. Base wage reflects both the value of the work and individual employee skills and experience.

True False
51. A major challenge facing most employers is the rising cost of health care benefits.

True False
52. The most important of the pay model policies for assuring fairness is contributions.

True False
53. The objective of compliance suggests the way a pay decision is made may be as important to employees as
the results of that decision.

True False
54. If an objective is to increase customer satisfaction, then incentive programs and merit pay might be used to
pay for performance.

True False
55. The objective of procedural fairness suggests the way a pay decision is made may be as important to
employees as the results of that decision.

True False

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56. Internal alignment refers to comparisons among jobs or skill levels inside a single organization.

True False
57. Contributions refers to employees' perceptions of the fairness of pay differences among different jobs
within their organization.

True False
58. External competitiveness decisions focus on both pay levels.

True False
59. Management of the pay system focuses on cost control and employee perceptions of fairness since they are
most important to management.

True False
60. The policy choice of management means ensuring that the right people get the right pay for achieving the
right objectives in the right way.

True False
61. Since HR research contains information useful to managers, most managers read research in HR,
management and compensation journals.

True False
62. Management and HR research has conclusively shown that goal setting and job enrichment produce the
largest and most reliable increases in job performance.

True False
63. Monetary incentives produce the biggest increases in job performance.

True False
64. An important criteria for determining the value of research is whether the research is useful.

True False
65. An important criteria for determining the value of research is/are there alternative explanations for the
research findings?

True False
66. In judging the value of research, an important guideline is that the research was conducted by Ph D
researchers.

True False
67. A study found that there is only a very small amount of change in CEO pay is related to changes in
company performance.

True False

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68. A study of IBM showed that their long-standing policy of no layoffs was the major cause of their strong
profits.

True False
69. Causality is one of the most difficult questions to answer and continues to be an important and sometimes
perplexing problem for researchers.

True False
70. The R2 is different form correlation in that it tells us what percentage of the variation is accounted for by
the variables we are using to predict or explain.

True False
71. Compensations differ with perspective. What are the different perspectives of compensation described in
the text?

72. Describe stockholders perspective on compensation.

73. What are the different ways in which employees see compensation?

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74. What are the different ways in which pay can influence employee motivation and behavior?

75. Describe the various returns received from work.

76. Write short notes on the different types of cash compensations discussed in the text.

77. Write short notes on the different types of benefits discussed in the text.

78. List the basic elements of the pay model.

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79. Explain the compensation objectives of the pay model.

80. List and define the different policy decisions of the pay model.

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 ch1 Key
1. (p. 4) C

2. (p. 4) D

3. (p. 5) A

4. (p. 5) A

5. (p. 5-6) B

6. (p. 6) D

7. (p. 7) A

8. (p. 8) B

9. (p. 8) D

10. (p. 9) B

11. (p. 10) C

12. (p. 10) C

13. (p. 11) B

14. (p. 12) C

15. (p. 12) A

16. (p. 12) C

17. (p. 12) D

18. (p. 13) B

19. (p. 14) A

20. (p. 14-15) B

21. (p. 16) D

22. (p. 16) A

23. (p. 16) D

24. (p. 16) A

25. (p. 16) C

26. (p. 17) A

27. (p. 19) B

28. (p. 19) C

29. (p. 19) D

30. (p. 20) B

31. (p. 20) D

32. (p. 20) C

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33. (p. 20) A

34. (p. 20) B

35. (p. 20) D

36. (p. 21) D

37. (p. 23) D

38. (p. 23-24) C

39. (p. 23) C

40. (p. 24) A

41. (p. 5) FALSE

42. (p. 64) FALSE

43. (p. 8) TRUE

44. (p. 11) FALSE

45. (p. 11) FALSE

46. (p. 10) FALSE

47. (p. 12) TRUE

48. (p. 12) FALSE

49. (p. 12) FALSE

50. (p. 11) FALSE

51. (p. 13) TRUE

52. (p. 17) FALSE

53. (p. 17) FALSE

54. (p. 17) TRUE

55. (p. 17) TRUE

56. (p. 19) TRUE

57. (p. 20) FALSE

58. (p. 19) TRUE

59. (p. 20-21) FALSE

60. (p. 20) TRUE

61. (p. 22) FALSE

62. (p. 23) FALSE

63. (p. 23) TRUE

64. (p. 24) FALSE

65. (p. 24) TRUE

66. (p. 24) FALSE

67. (p. 23) TRUE

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68. (p. 24) FALSE

69. (p. 24) TRUE

70. (p. 24) FALSE

71. (p. 4) The text describes compensation from the perspective of a member of society, a stockholder, a manager, and an employee.

72. (p. 6) Stockholders are interested in how employees are paid. Using stock to pay employees creates a sense of ownership which improves
performance and increase stockholder wealth. However, granting employees too much ownership dilutes stockholder wealth.
Stockholders have a particular interest in executive pay. The interests of executives are aligned with those of shareholders who hope that company
performance will be higher.

73. (p. 8) Employees see compensation as a return in an exchange between their employer and themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of
the company, or as a reward for a job well done.

74. (p. 9) Pay can influence employee motivation and behavior in two ways:
i. Pay can affect the motivational intensity, direction, and persistence of current employees. The degree to which pay influences individual and
aggregate motivation among the employees at any point in time is referred to as incentive effect.
ii. Pay can also have an indirect, but important influence, via, a sorting effect. Different types of pay strategies cause different types of people to
apply to and stay with an organization.

75. (p. 10-11) Returns are categorized in two:

i. Relational returns are psychological and include learning opportunities, status, challenging work, and other psychological aspects.
ii. Total compensations are transactional and include
a. Pay received directly as cash through base pay, merit, incentives, cost-of-living adjustments etc.
b. Pay received indirectly as benefits through pensions, medical insurance, programs to help balance work and life demands, bright colored uniform
etc.

76. (p. 11-12) i. Base pay is the cash compensation that an employer pays for the work performed. It tends to reflect the value of the work or skills and
generally ignores differences attributable to individual employees.
ii. Merit increases are given as increments to the base pay in recognition of past work behavior. Some assessment of past performance is made, with
or without a formal performance evaluation program, and the size of the increase is varied with performance.
iii. Cost-of-living adjustments give the same increases as merit, but to everyone, regardless of performance.
iv. Incentives tie pay increases directly to performance but differ from merit adjustments in two ways. Incentives can be tied to the performance of an
individual employee, a team of employees, a total business unit, or some combination of individual, team, and unit.
Incentives are one-time payments and do not permanently increase labor costs. When performance declines, incentive pay automatically declines,
too. Consequently, incentives are frequently referred to as variable pay.
v. Long-term incentives are intended to focus employee efforts on multiyear results. Typically they are in the form of stock ownership or options to
buy stock at specified, advantageous prices.

77. (p. 13-14) i. In the United States, employers must pay into a fund that provides income replacement for workers who become disabled or
unemployed. Employers also make half the contributions to Social Security. (Employees pay the other half.) Different countries have different lists of
mandatory benefits. Medical insurance, retirement programs, life insurance, and savings plans are common benefits.
ii. Programs that help employees better integrate their work/life balance include time away from work (vacations, jury duty), access to services
to meet specific needs (drug counseling, financial planning, referrals for child and elder care), and flexible work arrangements (telecommuting,
nontraditional schedules, nonpaid time off).
iii. Allowances often grow out of whatever is in short supply and differ from region to region.

78. (p. 15) The pay model contains three basic building blocks:
i. the compensation objective,
ii. the policies that form the foundation of the compensation system, and
iii. the techniques that make up the compensation system.

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The
evolution of climate
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The evolution of climate

Author: C. E. P. Brooks

Author of introduction, etc.: Sir G. C. Simpson

Release date: January 14, 2024 [eBook #72714]

Language: English

Original publication: London: Benn Brothers, 1922

Credits: Turgut Dincer, John Campbell and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION

OF CLIMATE ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
[number]
Footnote anchors are denoted by , and the footnotes have been placed
at the end of the book.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
T H E E V O L U T I O N O F C L I M AT E
 THE EVOLUTION
OF CLIMATE

BY

C. E. P. BROOKS,
M.Sc., F.R.A.I., F.R.Met.Soc.

WITH A PREFACE BY

G. C. SIMPSON, D.Sc., F.R.S.,

DIRECTOR OF THE METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE

LONDON: BENN BROTHERS, LIMITED

8 BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.4
1922
 P R E FA C E
Geologists very early in the history of their science, in fact as soon
as fossils began to be examined, found indisputable evidence of
great variations in climate. The vegetation which resulted in the coal
measures could have grown only in a sub-tropical climate, while over
these are vast remains of ice-worn boulders and scratched rocks
which obviously have been left by ice existing under polar
conditions. Such records were not found only in one region, but
cropped up in juxtaposition in many parts of the world. Remains of
sub-tropical vegetation were found in Spitzbergen, and remains of
an extensive ice-sheet moving at sea-level from the south were
clearly recognized in central and northern India. At first it was simply
noticed that the older fossils generally indicated a warmer climate,
and it was considered that the early climate of a globe cooling from
the molten state would be warm and moist, and so account for the
observed conditions. It was recognized that the ice remains were
relatively recent, and so far as a cause for the Ice Age was sought it
was considered that astronomical changes would be sufficient.
It was only when geologists began to find records of ice ages far
anterior to the Carboniferous Age, and astronomers proved by
incontrovertible observations and calculations that changes in the
earth’s orbit, or its inclination to that orbit, could not account for the
ice ages, that the importance and inexplicability of the geological
evidence for changes of climate came to be clearly recognized.
During the last few years much study has been given to
“palæoclimatology,” but such a study is extremely difficult. Only a
very small fraction of the total surface of the earth can be
geologically examined, and of that fraction a still smaller proportion
has up to the present been studied in detail. There has been a great
tendency to study intently a small region and then to generalize. The
method of study which has to be employed is extremely dangerous.
A geological horizon is determined by the fossils it contains.
Wherever fossils of a certain type are found the strata are given the
same label. Isolated patches correlated by their fossils are found in
different parts of the world, and it is frequently assumed not only
that these rocks were laid down at the same time, but that the
conditions which they indicate existed over the whole of the earth’s
surface simultaneously. Thus geologists tell us that the climate of the
Carboniferous Age was warm and damp; of the Devonian Age cool
and dry; of the Eocene Age very warm; of the Ice Age very cold.
But has the geologist given sufficient attention to the climatic
zones during the various geological climates? It is true that the
geologist has definitely expressed the view that in certain ages
climatic zones did not exist; but from a meteorological point of view
it is difficult to see how the climate could have been even
approximately the same in all parts of the world if solar radiation
determined in the past as in the present the temperature of the
surface of the earth.
The climatic zones of the various geological periods will need
much closer study in the future; the data hardly exist at present, and
the great area covered by the ocean will always make the study
difficult and the conclusions doubtful. Admitting, for the sake of
argument only, large changes in average conditions, but with zonal
variations of the same order of magnitude as those existing to-day,
the slow changes from period to period will cause any given climatic
state to travel slowly over the surface of the earth, and this will so
complicate the problem as to make it doubtful whether any
conclusions can be reached so long as the same criteria are used to
determine both the geological epoch and the climatic conditions.
These considerations apply more particularly to the earlier records,
while Mr. Brooks has confined his work chiefly to the later records,
beginning with those of the Great Ice Age, in which climatic zones
are clearly indicated by the limits of the ice; but in this problem one
cannot confine one’s attention to a portion of the record, for the test
of any explanation must be its sufficiency to explain all the past
changes of climate. One will not be satisfied with an explanation of
the Great Ice Age which does not explain at the same time the
records of earlier ice ages, of which there is indubitable evidence in
the Permo-Carboniferous and Pre-Cambrian periods, and the records
of widespread tropical or sub-tropical conditions in the Carboniferous
and Eocene Ages. Whether Mr. Brooks’ theory for the cause of the
recent changes of climate satisfies this criterion must be left to each
reader to decide.
As Mr. Brooks says, the literature on this subject is now immense,
and it is most unsatisfactory literature to digest and summarize. In
the first place, many of the original observations which can be used
in the study of past climates are hidden away in masses of purely
geological descriptions, and a great deal of mining has to be done to
extract the climatic ore. Then, again, most of the writers who have
made a special study of climatic changes have had their own
theoretical ideas and most of their evidence has been ex parte. To
take a single example, for one paper discussing dispassionately the
evidence for changes in climate during the historical period, there
have been ten to prove either that the climate has steadily
improved, steadily deteriorated, changed in cycles or remained
unchanged. It is extremely difficult to arrive at the truth from such
material, and still more difficult to summarize the present state of
opinion on the subject.
It may be complained that Mr. Brooks has himself adopted this
same method and has written his book around his own theory. But
was there any alternative? There are so many theories and radically
different points of view that no writer could confine himself to the
observations and say what these indicate, for the indications are so
very different according to each theory in turn. And new theories are
always being propounded; since Mr. Brooks commenced to write this
book, Wegener has put forward his revolutionary theory according to
which the polar axis has no stability, and the continents are
travelling over the face of the globe like debris on a flood. Where is
there solid ground from which to discuss climatic changes if the
continents themselves can travel from the equator to the pole and
back again in the short period of one or two geological epochs?
Mr. Brooks has studied deeply geology, anthropology, and
meteorology, and he has considerable mathematical ability. By
applying the latter to the results of his studies he has developed a
theory for the cause of climatic changes based on changes of land
and sea area, and on changes of elevation of land surfaces, and
naturally he has made this theory the basis of his work.
That there will be some who are not able to agree with him as to
the sufficiency of the causes he invokes, or who may even question
whether he also has not taken for granted what others dispute, goes
without saying; but all will agree that he has presented a difficult
subject in a clear and concise way, and that meteorologists (and
may I add geologists?) owe to him a deep debt of gratitude.
G. C. Simpson.
 C O N T E N TS
PAGE

Preface 5
Introduction 11
I. Factors of Climate and the Causes of Climatic Fluctuations 15
II. The Climatic Record as a Whole 32
III. Conditions before the Quaternary Ice Age 42
IV. The Great Ice Age 47
V. The Glacial History of Northern and Central Europe 55
VI. The Mediterranean Regions during the Glacial Period 68
VII. Asia during the Glacial Period 76
VIII. The Glacial History of North America 86
IX. Central and South America 97
X. Africa 103
XI. Australia and New Zealand 109
XII. The Glaciation of Antarctica 114
XIII. The Close of the Ice Age—The Continental Phase 118
XIV. The Post-Glacial Optimum of Climate 127
XV. The Forest Period of Western Europe 136
XVI. The “Classical” Rainfall Maximum, 1800 b.c. to a.d. 500 140
XVII. The Climatic Fluctuations since a.d. 500 149
XVIII. Climatic Fluctuations and the Evolution of Man 159
XIX. Climate and History 162
Appendix—The Factors of Temperature 166
Index 169
 INTRODUCTION
The following study is an attempt to reconstruct in some detail the
sequence of climatic changes through which the world passed during
that important stage of its geological history which is variously
known as the Ice Age or Glacial Period, the Pleistocene, the
Quaternary, or the Human Period. That time saw the growth of
humanity from a primitive stage but little removed from the higher
animals to the beginnings of a complicated civilization, and it saw
that human life spread from its cradle or cradles to the ends of the
earth; it saw the configuration of the globe passing through a series
of modifications which ended by establishing the physical geography
of the present day. Finally, it saw a series of startling changes of
climate which almost merit the term “Revolutions” of the old
catastrophic geologists, at the conclusion of which we can trace the
gradual development of the climatic conditions of the present day. In
short, it is a period of immense interest which has a personal
application lacking in the remoter parts of geological time, and for
that reason it is worthy of the fullest study.
On the geological side the literature of the Ice Age is immense,
and is beyond the power of any one man to master. Volumes might
be, and not infrequently have been, written on the glacial geology of
areas limited to a few square miles, or even on the deposits of a
single section. On the archæological side the literature is not yet so
voluminous, but is technical and conflicting in a high degree. It is
only when we seek the contributions of competent meteorologists
that we find a serious gap in the literature. Nor is this surprising, for
meteorologists are still so much occupied with the present vagaries
of the weather, that few of them have time to extend their
researches into the geological past. Yet this is eminently a case
where the past is the key to the present, and it may be that the
solution of many problems which meteorologists have hitherto faced
in vain will yet be suggested by studies of the climatic changes of
the Ice Age.
The writer’s excuse for setting down his views is that he is
intensely interested in all three sciences—geology, anthropology, and
meteorology. The combination of these three subjects naturally
ended in specialization on their common meeting place, and led him
to hope that he could assist his fellow geologists and anthropologists
by acquainting them with some of the bearings of meteorology on
their subject, and could open out to his fellow meteorologists a
fascinating branch of their science.
The Quaternary, however, was not the only geological period to
exhibit the phenomena of an Ice Age, and in order that we may
more fully understand the status of the Quaternary Ice Age in the
long succession of geological climates, and also to avoid the charge
of presenting part of the evidence only, a brief discussion of the
climates of the earlier periods has been attempted. The plan of the
work is as follows: Chapter I deals generally with the causes of
climatic fluctuations and with the meteorology of an Ice Age.
Chapter II gives a brief account of the climatic record as a whole,
and Chapter III deals with the Tertiary period considered as leading
up to the Quaternary Ice Age. Chapter IV discusses the subdivisions
of the Glacial period, and the conflict between advocates of one and
of repeated glaciations. Chapters V to XII give brief accounts, from
the standpoint of a meteorologist, of the glacial history of Northern
Europe, the Mediterranean Region, Asia, North and South America,
Africa, Australia, and the South Polar regions. In Chapters XIII to XV
post-Glacial climatology is considered. Chapters XVI and XVII deal
with the major climatic fluctuations of the “historic” period, and
finally, in Chapters XVIII and XIX, is a short discussion of the
influence of climate on the evolution and history of man. A brief
bibliography concludes each chapter.
THE EVOLUTION OF CLIMATE
 CHAPTER I

FA C TO R S OF C L I M AT E AND THE CAUSES OF C L I M AT I C

F L U C T U AT I O N S

The climate of any point on the earth’s surface depends on a

complex of factors, some of them due to influences arriving from
outside the earth, and others purely terrestrial. Since any variations
of climate must be due to a change in one or more of these, it is
necessary, before we can discuss changes of climate, to consider
briefly what the factors are.
The only important extra-terrestrial factor of climate is the amount
of radiant energy which reaches the borders of the earth’s
atmosphere from the heavenly bodies—that is, from the sun, for the
moon and stars can be ignored in this connexion. The only other
conceivable factor is the arrival of meteorites, bringing kinetic energy
which is converted into heat, and introducing cosmic dust into the
atmosphere; but it is highly improbable that this is of appreciable
effect.
The amount of solar radiation[1] which reaches the earth depends
in the first place on the total radiation emitted by the sun, and in the
second place on the distance of the earth from the sun, both of
which quantities are variable. It has been calculated that if other
factors remained unchanged an increase of ten per cent. in the solar
radiation would raise the mean temperature of the earth’s surface by
about 7° C., or between 12° and 13° F., with, of course, a
corresponding fall for a decrease.
 After the sun’s radiation reaches the outer limits of the earth’s
atmosphere its nature and intensity are modified by the composition
of the air through which it passes. In general the air itself is very
transparent to the small wave-lengths which make up the solar rays,
but the presence of fine dust, whether of volcanic or of cosmic
origin, has been shown by Humphreys to be a distinct hindrance to
their passage, so that volcanic eruptions of an explosive nature, such
as that of Krakatoa in 1883, La Soufrière (St. Vincent) in 1902, or
Katmai (Alaska) in 1912, may result in a fall of temperature over the
world as a whole.
The temperature of the earth is determined by the balance
between the radiation received from the sun and the terrestrial
radiation to space, and a decrease in the latter would be as effective
in raising the mean temperature as an increase in the former. The
use of glass for greenhouses depends on this principle; for glass is
transparent to heat rays of small wave-length, but is largely opaque
to the rays of greater wave-length which make up terrestrial
radiation. Certain constituents of the atmosphere, especially water-
vapour, carbon dioxide and ozone, are effective in this way, and
variations in the amount of these gases present may affect the
temperature.
The angle at which the sun’s rays strike the earth’s surface is a
highly important factor. Within the Tropics the sun at midday is
nearly vertical throughout the year, and the mean temperature in
these regions is correspondingly high; on the other hand, during the
long polar night the sun is not seen for half the year, and very low
temperatures prevail. There is thus a seasonal variation of the heat
received from the sun in middle and high latitudes, the extent of
which depends on the “obliquity of the ecliptic,” i.e. the inclination of
the earth’s axis to the plane of its orbit round the sun, and any
changes in this factor must alter the seasonal variation of climate.
Further, since the climate of any place depends so closely on its
latitude, it follows that if the latitude changes the climate will
change. A ship can change its latitude at will, but we are
accustomed to regard the position of the “firm ground beneath our
feet” relatively to the poles as fixed within narrow limits. This
stability has, however, been questioned from time to time, mainly on
evidence derived from palæoclimatology, and theories of climatic
change have been based on the wanderings of continents and
oceans. Finally, local climate is intimately bound up with the
distribution of land and sea, and the marine and atmospheric
currents resulting therefrom, and on elevation above sea-level, both
of which factors, as we shall see, have suffered very wide variations
in the geological past.
Nearly all the theories which have been put forward to account for
geological changes of climate, and especially the occurrence of the
last or Quaternary Ice Age, are based on the abnormal variation of
one or other of the above factors, and we may consider them briefly
in turn. Very few have ever been taken seriously. In the first place,
we can at once dismiss fluctuations in the radiation emitted by the
sun as a cause of great changes of climate. It is true that many
small fluctuations are traceable directly to this cause, such as the
eleven-year periodicity of temperature and rainfall; but these
fluctuations are, and must be, greater at the equator than at the
poles, while the fall of temperature during the Glacial period reached
its maximum near the poles and was least at the equator. Moreover,
there is not the slightest direct evidence in support of such a theory,
and it can only be admitted when all other hypotheses have failed.
The “astronomical” theory of the cause of climatic fluctuations is
associated chiefly with the name of James Croll. Croll’s theory
connects abnormal variations of climate with variations, firstly of the
eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, and secondly of the ecliptic. In
periods of high eccentricity the hemisphere with winter in aphelion is
cold because the long severe winter is far from being balanced by
the short hot summer; at the same time the opposite hemisphere
enjoys a mild equable climate. This theory commanded instant
respect, and still finds a place in the text-books, but difficulties soon
began to appear. The evidence strongly suggests that glacial periods
did not alternate in the two hemispheres, but were simultaneous
over the whole earth; even on the equator the snow-line was
brought low down. Moreover, on Mars the largest snow-cap appears
on the hemisphere with its winter in perihelion. Although Croll’s
reasoning was beautifully ingenious he gave very few figures; while
the date which he gives for the conclusion of the Ice Age, 80,000
years ago, has been shown by recent research to be far too remote,
15,000 years being nearer the mark.
Croll’s theory has recently been revived in an altered form by R.
Spitaler, a Czecho-Slovakian meteorologist, who calculated the
probable alteration in the mean temperature of each latitude under
maximum eccentricity (0.7775) and maximum obliquity (27° 48′),
the distribution of land and water remaining unchanged. The results
are shown in the attached table, where - means that the
temperature was so much below the present mean, and + that it
was so much above.

Aphelion December. Aphelion June.

Winter. Summer. Year. Winter. Summer. Year.

°F. °F. °F. °F. °F. °F.

N. 60° -9 +15 -1 -5 -4 -1
30° -13 +13 -2 +1 -8 -2
Equator -8 +4 -2 +1 -6 -2
S. 30° -6 +1 -2 +3 -5 -2
60° -2 -1 -1 +1 -2 -1

Spitaler claims that these differences are sufficient to cause a

glacial period in the hemisphere with winter in aphelion, but from
this point his theory departs widely from Croll’s. During the long
severe winter great volumes of sea water are brought to a low
temperature, and, owing to their greater weight, sink to the bottom
of the ocean, where they remain cold and accumulate from year to
year. But the water warmed during the short hot summer remains on
the surface, where its heat is dissipated by evaporation and
radiation. Thus, throughout the cold period, lasting about 10,000
years, the ocean in that hemisphere is steadily growing colder, and
this mass of cold water is sufficient to maintain a low temperature
through the whole of the following period of 10,000 years with
winter in perihelion, which would otherwise be a genial interval. In
this way a period of great eccentricity becomes a glacial period over
the whole earth, but with crests of maximum intensity alternating in
the two hemispheres. Unfortunately the numerical basis of this
theory is not presented, and it seems incredible that a deficiency of
temperature could be thus maintained through so long a period.
Further, the difficulty about chronology remains, and the work brings
the astronomical theory no nearer to being a solution of the Ice Age
problem than was Croll’s.
The theory which connects fluctuations of climate on a geological
scale with changes in the composition of the earth’s atmosphere is
due to Tyndall and Arrhenius, and was elaborated by Chamberlin.
The theory supposed that the earth’s temperature is maintained by
the “blanketing” effect of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This
acts like the glass of a greenhouse, allowing the sun’s rays to enter
unhindered, but absorbing the heat radiated from the earth’s surface
and returning some of it to the earth instead of letting it pass
through to be lost in space. Consequently, any diminution in the
amount of carbon dioxide present would cause the earth to radiate
away its heat more freely, so reducing its temperature. But it is now
known that the terrestrial radiation which this gas is capable of
absorbing is taken up equally readily by water-vapour, of which there
is always sufficient present, and variations of carbon dioxide cannot
have any appreciable effect.
Brief mention may be made here of a theory put forward by
Humphreys, who attributed glaciation to the presence of great
quantities of volcanic dust in the atmosphere. It would require an
enormous output of volcanic dust to reduce the temperature
sufficiently; but in any case the relation, if any, between vulcanicity
and temperature during the geological ages is rather the reverse of
that supposed by Humphreys, periods of maximum volcanic action
coinciding more frequently with high temperatures than with low.
Perhaps the best comment on Humphreys’ theory is that in 1902 F.
Frech produced its exact opposite, warm periods being associated
with an excess of vulcanicity and cold periods with a diminution.
The theory which attributes climatic changes in various countries
to variations in the position of the poles has been adduced in two
main forms. The first is known as the Pendulation Theory, and
supposes the existence of two “oscillation poles” in Ecuador and
Sumatra. The latitude of these points remains unchanged, and the
geographical poles swing backwards and forwards along the
meridian of 10 E. midway between them. Varying distances from the
pole cause changes of climate, and the movements of the ocean,
which adjusts itself to the change of pole more rapidly than the land,
causes the great transgressions and regressions of the sea and the
elevation and subsidence of the land.
An alternative form put forward by P. Kreichgauer, and recently
brought up again by Wegener, explains the apparent variations in
the position of the pole, not through a motion of the earth’s axis, but
by the assumption that the firm crust has moved over the earth’s
core so that the axis, remaining firm in its position, passes through
different points of the earth’s crust. The cause of these movements
is the centrifugal force of the great masses of the continents, which
are distributed symmetrically about the earth. Imagine a single large
continent resting on a sub-fluid magma in temperate latitudes.
Centrifugal force acting on this continent tends to drive it towards
the equator. There is thus a tendency for the latitude of Europe to
decrease. Similar forces acting through geological ages have caused
the poles and equator to wander at large over the earth’s surface,
and also caused the continents to shift their positions relatively to
one another. According to Wegener, in the Oligocene there was only
a single enormous continent, America being united to Europe and
Africa on the one hand, and through Antarctica to Australia on the
other; while the Deccan stretched south-westwards nearly to Africa.
The poles were in Alaska and north of the Falkland Islands. The
treatment in Kreichgauer’s original book is speculative and at times
fanciful; Wegener’s treatise appears to demand more respectful
attention, but is open to some vital objections. In the first place,
theories of this class demand that the glaciation occurred in different
regions at widely different times, whereas we shall see in the
following pages that the evidence points very strongly to a double
glaciation during the Quaternary occurring simultaneously over the
whole earth. This objection, which was fatal to Croll’s theory in its
original form, is equally fatal to theories of pole-wandering as an
explanation of the Quaternary Ice Age. Secondly, we know that the
last phase of this glaciation, known as the Wisconsin stage in
America and the Wurmian in Europe, was highly developed only
20,000 years ago, and probably reached its maximum not more than
30,000 years ago. In the last 5000 years there has been no
appreciable change of latitude, at least in Eurasia; and it seems
impossible for the extensive alterations required in the geography of
the world by Wegener’s theory to have taken place in so short a
time.
The great glaciation of the Permian period, referred to in the next
chapter, is a totally different matter. During this time the ice-sheets
appear to have reached their maximum area, and to have extended
to sea-level, in countries which are at present close to the equator,
while lands now in high latitudes remained unglaciated. It is true
that at the present day glaciers exist at high latitudes under the
equator itself, and given a ridge sufficiently steep and a snowfall
sufficiently heavy such glaciers would possibly extend to sea-level;
but even these conditions would not give rise to the enormous
deposits of true boulder-clay which have been discovered, and there
seems no way of avoiding the supposition of an enormous difference
in the position of the pole relatively to the continents at this time.
Wegener’s theory alone, however, requires that glaciation should
always have been proceeding in some part of the globe (unless both
poles were surrounded by wide expanses of ocean), which is hard to
reconcile with the extremely definite and limited glaciations which
geological research has demonstrated. In these circumstances we
may tentatively explain the pre-Tertiary glacial periods by combining
Wegener’s theory of the movements of continents and oceans as a
whole with the theory of changes of elevation and of land and sea
distribution which is outlined below. That is to say, we may suppose
that the positions of the continents and oceans have changed,
relatively both to each other and to the poles, slowly but more or
less continuously throughout geological time; while at certain
periods the land and sea distribution became favourable for
extensive glaciation of the regions which at that time were in high
latitudes.
The geographical theory, which states that the Ice Age was
brought about by elevation in high latitudes, and by changes in the
land and sea distribution, though never seriously challenged, has
suffered until recently from a lack of precision. The present author
attempted to remedy this by a close mathematical study of the
relation of temperature to land and sea distribution at the present
day. The method at attack was as follows: from the best available
isothermal charts of all countries the mean temperature reduced to
sea-level was read off for each intersection of a ten-degree square
of latitude and longitude, for January and July, from 70° N. to 60° S.
latitude; this gave 504 values of temperature for each of these
months. Round each point was next drawn a circle with an angular
radius of ten degrees, divided into east and west semicircles. The
area of each semicircle was taken as 100, and by means of squared
paper the percentage of land to the east and land to the west were
calculated; finally, in each month the percentage of the whole circle
occupied by land, ice, or frozen sea was calculated, this figure
naturally being greater in winter than in summer. The projection
used was that of the “octagonal globe,” published by the
Meteorological Office, which shows the world in five sections, the
error nowhere exceeding six per cent.
These figures were then analysed mathematically, and from them
the effects on temperature of land to the east, land to the west, and
ice were calculated. The detailed numerical results are set out in an
Appendix; it is sufficient here to give the following general
conclusions:
 (1) In winter the effect of land to the west is always to lower
temperature.
(2) In winter the effect of land to the east is almost negligible,
that is to say, the eastern shore of a continent is almost as cold as
the centre of the continent. The only important exception to this rule
is 70° N., which may be considered as coming within a belt of polar
east winds.
(3) In summer the general effect of land, whether to the east or
west, is to raise temperature, but the effect is nowhere anything like
so marked as the opposite effect in winter.
(4) The effect of ice is always to lower temperature.
(5) For every latitude a “basal temperature” can be found. This is
the temperature found near the centre of an ocean in that latitude.
This “basal temperature” is a function of the amount of land in the
belt of latitude. Poleward of latitude 20° an increase of land in the
belt lowers the winter basal temperatures very rapidly and raises the
summer basal temperature to a less extent. The “basal temperature”
is important, since it is the datum line from which we set out to
calculate the winter and summer temperatures of any point, by the
addition or subtraction of figures representing the local effect of land
in a neighbouring 10° circle.
As an illustration of the scale of the temperature variations which
may be due to geographical changes, suppose that the belt between
50° and 70° N. is entirely above the sea. Then we have the following
theoretical temperatures; for a point on 60° N. at sea-level:
January -30° F.; July 72° F.
Data for calculating the effect of ice are rather scanty, but the
following probable figures can be given, supposing that the belt in
question were entirely ice-covered:
January -30° F. (as for land); July 23° F.
Supposing that the belt were entirely oceanic, the mean
temperature in 60° N. would be:
 January 29° F.; July 41° F.
These figures show how enormously effective the land and sea
distribution really is. From Appendix it is easy to calculate the
probable temperature distribution resulting from any arrangement of
land and water masses. Since the geography of the more recent
geological periods is now known in some detail, we have thus a
means of restoring past climates and discussing the distribution of
animals and plants in the light of this knowledge. Of course it is not
pretended that no other possible causes of great climatic variation
exist, but no others capable of seriously modifying temperature over
long periods are known to have been in operation. As we shall see
later, there are solar and other astronomical causes capable of
modifying climate slightly for a few decades or even centuries, but
these are insignificant compared with the mighty fluctuations of
geological time.
In applying the results of this “continentality” study to former
geological periods the method adopted is that of differences. The
present climate is taken as a standard, and the temperatures of, for
instance, the Glacial period are calculated by adding to or
subtracting from the present temperatures amounts calculated from
the change in the land and sea distribution. This has the advantage
of conserving the present local peculiarities, such as those due to
the presence of the Gulf Drift, but such a procedure would be
inapplicable for a totally different land and sea distribution, such as
prevailed during the Carboniferous period. That it is applicable for
the Quaternary is perhaps best shown by the following comparison
of temperatures calculated from the distribution of land, sea and ice
with the actual temperatures of the Ice Age as estimated by various
authorities (inferred fall):

Calculated Fall.
Locality. Author. Inferred Fall.
Jan. July. Mean.

°F. °F. °F. °F.

Scandinavia J. Geikie More than 20 36 18 27
 East Anglia C. Reid 20 18 13 15
Alps Penck and Brückner 11 13 9 11
Japan Simotomai 7 9 5 7

It is seen that the agreement is quite good.

There is one other point to consider, the effect of height. The
existence of a great land-mass generally implies that part of it at
least has a considerable elevation, perhaps 10,000 or 20,000 feet,
and these high lands lave a very different climate to the
neighbouring lowlands. Meteorologists have measured this difference
in the case of temperature and found that the average fall with
height is at the rate of 1° F. in 300 feet. In the lower levels the fall is
usually greater in summer than in winter, but at 3000 feet it is fairly
uniform throughout the year. Consequently, quite apart from any
change in climate due to the increased land area, an elevation of
3000 feet would result in a fall of temperature of 10° F., winter and
summer alike. This reinforces the effect of increased land area and
aids in the development of ice-sheets or glaciers.
The effect of geographical changes on the distribution of rainfall
are much more complicated. The open sea is the great source of the
water-vapour in the atmosphere, and since evaporation is very much
greater in the hot than in the cold parts of the globe, for
considerable precipitation over the world as a whole there must be
large water areas in the Tropics. In temperate latitudes the water-
vapour is carried over the land by onshore winds, and some of it is
precipitated where the air is forced to rise along the slopes of hills or
mountains. Some rain falls in thunderstorms and similar local
showers, but the greater part of the rain in most temperate
countries is associated with the passage of “depressions.” These are
our familiar wind- and rain-storms; a depression consists essentially
of winds blowing in an anti-clockwise direction round an area of low
pressure.
These centres of low pressure move about more or less irregularly,
but almost invariably from west to east in the temperate regions.
They are usually generated over seas or oceans, and, since a supply
of moist air is essential for their continued existence, they tend to
keep to the neighbourhood of water masses or, failing that, of large
river valleys. In a large dry area depressions weaken or disappear.
Their tracks are also very largely governed by the positions of areas
of high pressure or anticyclones, which they tend to avoid, moving
from west to east on the polar side of a large anticyclone and from
east to west on the equatorial side. Since anticyclones are developed
over the great land areas in winter, this further restricts the paths of
depressions to the neighbourhood of the oceans at that season.
For all these reasons the tracks of depressions, and therefore the
rainfall, are intimately connected with the distribution of land and
sea. In winter there is little rainfall in the interior of a great land-
mass, except where it is penetrated by an arm of the sea like the
Mediterranean; on the other hand, the coasts receive a great deal of
rain or snow. The interior receives its rain mostly in spring or
summer; if the coastal lands are of no great elevation this will be
plentiful, but if the coasts are mountainous the interior will be arid,
like the central basins of Asia.
The development of an ice-sheet is equivalent to introducing
perpetual winter in the area occupied by the ice. The low
temperature maintains high pressure, and storm-tracks are unable to
cross the ice. At the present day depressions rarely penetrate
beyond the outer fringe of the Antarctic continent, and only the
southern extremity of Greenland is affected by them. Since the total
energy in the atmosphere is increased by the presence of an ice-
sheet, which affords a greater contrast of temperature between cold
pole and equator, storms will increase in frequency and their tracks
must be crowded together on the equatorial side of the ice-sheet. In
the southern hemisphere we have great storminess in the “roaring
forties”; south of Greenland the Newfoundland banks are a region of
great storminess. Hence, when an ice-sheet covered northern and
central Europe the Mediterranean region must have had a marked
increase of storminess with probably rain in summer as well as in
winter.
 But if snow-bearing depressions cannot penetrate an ice-sheet, it
may be asked how the ice-sheet can live. The answer depends on
the nature of the underlying country. A land of high relief such as
Antarctica is, and as Greenland probably is, rising to a maximum
elevation of many thousand feet near its centre, draws its
nourishment chiefly from the upper currents which flow inward on all
sides to replace the cooled air which flows outwards near the
surface. These upper currents carry a certain amount of moisture,
partly in the form of vapour, but partly condensed as cirrus and even
cumulus cloud.
At low temperatures air is able to hold only a negligible amount of
water-vapour, and this current, coming in contact with the extremely
cold surface of the ice, is sucked dry, and its moisture added to the
ice-sheet. Probably there is little true snowfall, but the condensation
takes place chiefly close to the surface, forming a frozen mist
resembling the “ice-mist” of Siberia. Even if the central land is not
high enough to reach into the upper current at its normal level, the
surface outflow of cold air will draw the current down to the level of
the ice. This will warm it by compression, but the ice-surface is so
cold that such warming makes little difference in the end. This
process of condensation ensures that after the ice reaches a certain
thickness it becomes independent of topography, and in fact the
centre of the Scandinavian ice-sheet lay not along the mountain
axis, but some distance to the east of it.
It is probably only on the edges of the ice-sheet, and especially in
areas of considerable local relief, that snowfall of the ordinary type
takes place, associated with moist winds blowing in the front section
of depressions which skirt the ice-edge. But when conditions are
favourable this source of supply is sufficient to enable these local
ice-sheets to maintain an independent life, merely fusing with the
edges of the larger sheet where they meet. Examples of such local
centres in Europe were the Irish and Scottish glaciers, and at a later
stage the Lofoten glaciers of the west of Norway, and in America the
Cordilleran glaciers of Columbia.
 Penck and Brückner have demonstrated that in the Alps the
increase of glaciation was due to a fall of temperature and not to an
increase of snowfall. The argument is threefold: firstly, the lowering
of the snow-line was uniform over the whole Alpine area, instead of
being irregular as it would be if it depended on variations of
snowfall; secondly, the area and depth of the parent snow-fields
which fed the glaciers remained unchanged, hence the increased
length of the glaciers must have been due to decreased melting
below the snow-line, i.e. to lower temperatures; thirdly, the upper
limit of tree-growth in Europe sank by about the same amount as
the snow-line. The same conclusion holds for the great Scandinavian
and North American ice-sheets, the extension of which was
undoubtedly due to a great fall of temperature. In the case of the
Alps the interesting point has come to light that the fall of
temperature, though due in part to increased elevation, is mainly
accounted for by the presence of the Scandinavian ice-sheet, which
extended its influence for many miles beyond the actual limits of
glaciation, so that its waxings and wanings are faithfully reproduced
in those of the Alpine glaciers, even to the details of the final retreat
after the last maximum.
It is only when we turn to tropical and sub-tropical regions that
we find variations of temperature unable to account for increased
glaciation. Not only were the changes of land and sea distribution on
a very much smaller scale than further north, but the Appendix
shows that the temperature value of a corresponding change of land
area is also very much less. But the high intertropical mountains—
the Andes and Kenya and Kilimanjaro in central Africa—which to-day
bear glaciers, in Quaternary times carried much greater ones. We
cannot call in a fall of temperature, for the reason above stated, and
also because at lower levels there is no evidence of colder
conditions. In the Glacial period the marine fauna was the same as
to-day, and mountains which now fall short of the snow-line by a
few hundred feet were still unglaciated even then. The only
alternative is increased snowfall on the higher mountains.
Fortunately this fits in well with meteorological theory. The rain and