'Glacial period' definitions:
Definition of 'glacial period'
From: WordNet
noun
Any period of time during which glaciers covered a large part of the earth's surface; "the most recent ice age was during the Pleistocene" [syn: ice age, glacial period, glacial epoch]
Definition of 'Glacial period'
From: GCIDE
- Glacial \Gla"cial\, a. [L. glacialis, from glacies ice: cf. F. glacial.]
- 1. Pertaining to ice or to its action; consisting of ice; frozen; icy; esp., pertaining to glaciers; as, glacial phenomena. --Lyell. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Chem.) Resembling ice; having the appearance and consistency of ice; -- said of certain solid compounds; as, glacial phosphoric or acetic acids. [1913 Webster]
- Glacial acid (Chem.), an acid of such strength or purity as to crystallize at an ordinary temperature, in an icelike form; as acetic or carbolic acid.
- Glacial drift (Geol.), earth and rocks which have been transported by moving ice, land ice, or icebergs; bowlder drift.
- Glacial epoch or Glacial period (Geol.), a period during which the climate of the modern temperate regions was polar, and ice covered large portions of the northern hemisphere to the mountain tops.
- Glacial theory or Glacial hypothesis. (Geol.) See Glacier theory, under Glacier. [1913 Webster]