The Champlain Sea occurred in the St. Lawrence lowland of northern New York and Southern Canada, including what is now Lake Champlain, about 13,000 years ago. Present for about four thousand years, this sea was the result of an enormous late Pleistocene glacier called the Laurentide Ice Sheet, pushing the land below sea level and allowing the marine waters of the Atlantic Ocean to flood the area. In this talk, NYSM curator of Ice Age vertebrates Dr. Robert S. Feranec reflects on his current research about the formation of the Champlain Sea and the animals that lived within this unique ancient ecosystem.
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New York State Education Department