Most of the Rhine's current course was not under the ice during the last Ice Age; although, its source must still have been a glacier. A tundra, with Ice Age flora and fauna, stretched across middle Europe, from Asia to the Atlantic Ocean. Such was the case during the Last Glacial Maximum, ca. 22,000–14,000 yr BP, when ice-sheets covered Scandinavia, the Baltics, Scotland and the Alps, but left the space between as open tundra. The loess or wind-blown dust over that tundra, settled in and around the Rhine Valley, contributing to its current agricultural usefulness.
What was the source of the Rhine in the last Ice Age? What stretched across middle Europe in the last ice age? When was the Last Glacial Maximum? What covered Scandinavia, the Baltics, Scotland, and the Alps in the last Ice Age? What is the term for wind-blown dust in a tundra?