How do scientists explain the cause of the Ice Age(s)?

subbie writes:Let's begin at the beginning. What makes you think that low temperatures and high precipitation are necessary requirements for an ice age? And from where did you get that notion?
More generally, let me make this observation. Your question is of a general type frequently found among creationists. You acknowledge that you are not scientist, yet you seem to think that you can conceive of a simple problem that will bring an entire scientific discipline crashing to the ground. What makes you think that you, a non-scientist, sitting in your recliner in your living room, know more about a subject than the hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of people who have spent their entire lives studying it do? If a rational person were to pause for a moment and consider that dilemma, I think he would realize the absurdity of the proposition.Let me put it another way. I take it you are a person who has spent a great deal of time studying the bible and considering its contents. I am not. How likely do you think it would be for me to be able to make a one sentence argument to get you to see that everything you believe about the bible is wrong?On the other hand, perhaps you didn't come up with this "problem" with ice ages by yourself. Perhaps you got it from a creationist, either in person, from some book, or from a website. If is this so, I strongly caution you not to advance any such argument here again. Creationists as a rule lie about the evidence. I know several people have told you this already, and I don't really expect you to believe us, particularly since they subscribe to a proposition with which you agree. But you will not find much more than frustration here if all you can put offer is lies and misunderstandings from creationists.I'm not trying to sound harsh, jason. I'm trying to get you to do a little critical thinking. I hope you see that, and I hope to stay around long enough to learn something.

Minnemooseous writes:I think a better route to take, would be to simply ask how this hypothetical flood (regardless of its reality) would lead to an ice age.

jar writes:Unfortunately Buz, the Biblical Flood has been absolutely refuted so even if you guys reach a consensus, it is simply wrong.See Message 5 in "Was there a worldwide flood?"

Jar writes:Well, the geneticists can see bottle neck events in some species, but they are all at different times and most are tens or hundreds of thousands of years in the past.