This Tiny Patch of Ice is All That’s Left of Massive Ice Sheet that Covered all of Michigan in Prehistoric Times

If you were living in Michigan during the past Ice Age, say 2.5 million years ago, you'd not recognize the state. You wouldn't see the Great Lakes that define the shape of the state's peninsulas. Rather you'd see a seemingly endless sheet of ice. What's known to scientists at the Laurentide Ice Sheet once extended from Greenland to cover the entire Great Lakes region.

Incredibly, after 2.5 million years later and after the ice receded far north, there is still a remnant of this ice sheet. Located on Baffin Island in the far north of Canada is home to the last patch of this ice. It's located much closer to the North Pole, Greenland and Iceland than to Michigan.

This patch is called the Barnes Ice Cap. While it's considered a 'tiny' patch of ice, that would be in comparison to how far the ice once extended. The Barnes Ice Cap is 2300 square miles, or slightly larger than the state of Delaware. The ice is considered 'some of the oldest' on the continent dating back at least 20,000 years.

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The ice sheet contained several lobes, or subsection of ice, over Michigan and are named today for locations in the state. The Lake Michigan Lobe covered most of West Michigan, the Saginaw Lobe in the middle portion of the state, the Erie Lobe over southeast Michigan and Mackinac Lobe in northern Michigan.

There are scientists who have visited the Barnes Ice Sheet which likely give you the best approximation of what Michigan looked like during the Ice Age and is the same system of ice that exists today from the ice that once covered the entire Great Lakes.