Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What could cause my millennium-long ice ages?

+0
−0

Here on earth, it takes about 90,000 years for major ice sheets to build up, and another 10,000 for them to collapse, resulting in 100,000 year cycles of major glaciation, from what I understand.

Would it be too far fetched to imagine a world where this happens at a much faster and more regular rate, e.g. every thousand years? Could my explanation for this phenomenon be as simple as a periodic gravitational tug from another large planet? And what about extreme glaciation, where the ice sheets extend so far from the poles that only the equator remains uncovered? Would there be enough time for that to happen?

I understand that ice sheets form when summer temperatures don't rise above freezing (due to orbital eccentricities, changes in ocean currents, etc.) and snow continues to accumulate and compress year-round. But I don't have any sense of how long my scenario would take to unfurl.

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/161623. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »