Ronald Hergelo age 11, of Milwaukee Wis.) for his question:

What happened to the water from the ice sheets?

The glaciers of the last Ice Age covered Canada, much of the United States rind much of Europe. It is estimated that they capped an area of some 12 million square miles and some of the sheets of ice were two miles thick. A;11 this glacial ice was, of course, frozen water, It was water that would normally drain back to the sea in streams and rivers, Deprived of this water, the seas shrank all over the world. The shore line grew and the sea level sank 200 to 300 feet.

Springtime returned about 8500 years ago, EIch summer thereafter, more and. more glacial ice melted and ran down to join the oceans. The sea level began to rise again. The shore lines began to recede. Much of the low lying land was flooded, sometimes gradually and sometimes with sudden fury. The sea was getting back its normal water and reclaiming the coastal areas that had been drained dry,

By now, almost all the glaciers of the past Ice Age have melted and r6turned their waters to the seas, There are still ice sheets over polar regions and glaciers on the cold crowns of tall mountains. If all this ice should melt it is estimated that the sea level of the oceans would rise maybe 50 to 60 feet. This is not likely to happen, and if it did.. the process would  be very slow ‑ slow enough for everyone to go‑ off the beaches.