MIS 6 ended with one of the most violent climate transitions in Earth’s recent history: the . Sea levels rose 10 meters per century in some pulses. The Mediterranean refilled in a torrential flood through Gibraltar. The ice sheets collapsed, raising global sea levels over 100 meters in just a few thousand years. Why MIS 6 Matters Today MIS 6 is a cautionary tale. It shows us what "full glacial" Earth looks like—a planet 6°C colder than pre-industrial times. More importantly, the study of MIS 6 ice sheets helps us model how quickly ice can melt. The rapid collapse at the end of MIS 6 suggests that today’s Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets may be more unstable than previously thought.
Furthermore, the soils and glacial till left behind by MIS 6 (the Illinoian till in the US Midwest) form the bedrock of modern agriculture. When you drive through the rolling hills of Ohio or the plains of northern Germany, you are driving across the rubble of a glacier that died 130,000 years ago. pleisteisan 6
Given the context of prehistoric climate and geology, I have developed an article based on , which occurred approximately 190,000 to 130,000 years ago. This period is sometimes informally referred to in older texts as the "Riss glaciation" (Alps) or the "Illinoian Stage" (North America). MIS 6 ended with one of the most
