Eemian Interglacial Stage

Eemian Interglacial Stage, major division of Pleistocene time and deposits in Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 2.6 million years ago and ended about 11,700 years ago). The Eemian Interglacial followed the Saale Glacial Stage and preceded the Weichsel Glacial Stage. The Eemian is correlated with the Ipswichian Interglacial of Britain and the Riss-Würm Interglacial Stage of the Alpine region of Europe. The Eemian is also approximately contemporaneous with the Sangamon Interglacial Stage of North America. The Eemian was named for a stream in the eastern Netherlands.

The sediments of the Eemian are varied and include deposits formed in lakes, rivers, weathered soil zones, and shallow seas. The distribution of the marine deposits indicates that the Eemian seas made great incursions onto the land. These seas were probably higher than at present; the Eemian appears to have been a time of very moderate climate, warmer than at present. Most of the ice of the previous glacial period must have melted: it is likely that Scandinavia was ice-free, as was the Arctic Ocean. The Fennoscandia landmass was probably isolated as an island. Eemian fossil vertebrates are known from several localities and indicate a rich and varied mammalian fauna in Europe, including horse, bison, various sorts of elephants, cave bear, and others.