Editing Timeline of glaciation (section)

{{short description|Chronology of the major ice ages of the Earth}}
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[[File:Phanerozoic Climate Change.png|thumb|350px|Climate history over the past 500 million years, with the last three major ice ages indicated,
[[Andean-Saharan glaciation|Andean-Saharan]] (450 Ma), [[Karoo Ice Age|Karoo]] (300 Ma) and [[Late Cenozoic Ice Age|Late Cenozoic]]. A less severe cold period or ice age is shown during the [[Jurassic]]-[[Cretaceous]] (150 Ma).]]

There have been five or six major [[ice age]]s in the history of Earth over the past 3 billion years. 
The [[Late Cenozoic Ice Age]] began 34 million years ago, its latest phase being the [[Quaternary glaciation]], in progress since 2.58 million years ago.

Within ice ages, there exist periods of more severe glacial conditions and more temperate conditions, referred to as [[glacial period]]s and [[interglacial|interglacial period]]s, respectively.  The Earth is currently in such an interglacial period of the Quaternary glaciation, with the [[Last Glacial Period]] of the Quaternary having ended approximately 11,700 years ago.  The current interglacial is known as the [[Holocene]] epoch.<ref name="Walker, M. 2009. pp. 3">Walker, M., Johnsen, S., Rasmussen, S. O., Popp, T., Steffensen, J.-P., Gibbard, P., Hoek, W., Lowe, J., Andrews, J., Bjo¨ rck, S., Cwynar, L. C., Hughen, K., Kershaw, P., Kromer, B., Litt, T., Lowe, D. J., Nakagawa, T., Newnham, R., and Schwander, J. 2009. [http://www.stratigraphy.org/GSSP/Holocene.pdf Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records. J. Quaternary Sci., Vol. 24 pp. 3–17.] {{ISSN|0267-8179}}.</ref> 
Based on [[Proxy (climate)|climate proxies]], [[Paleoclimatology|paleoclimatologists]] study the different [[climate state]]s originating from glaciation.