Meanings
- not comparablePertaining to multiple periods of glacial formation separated by warmer interglacial periods.
The polyglacial concept (that is, the existence of many glacial periods and climate cyclicity) became accepted.
2009, Vaclav Cilek, Earth System: History and Natural Variability, page 4622 more examples
Our knowledge of Pleistocene glaciation has clearly shown that an ice age is not monoglacial, but polyglacial; i.e., during a single ice age several colder glacial [times] episodes alternate with warmer interglacial [times] episodes.
2012, H.-E. Reineck, I. B. Singh, Depositional Sedimentary EnvironmentsIn the period leading up to World War One, there was much debate about whether the ice age involved a single phase of ice sheet growth and freezing climate (the monoglacial theory) or several phases of ice sheet build up and decay separated by warm interglacials (the polyglacial theory).
2014, Jamie Woodward, The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction, page 89
Origin
Cite this entry
polyglacial. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polyglacial
“polyglacial.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polyglacial. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “polyglacial,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polyglacial.
Source: polyglacial on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.