<P> The Persian Gulf averages about 35 metres in depth and the seabed between Abu Dhabi and Qatar is even shallower, being mostly less than 15 metres deep . For thousands of years the Ur - Shatt (a confluence of the Tigris - Euphrates Rivers) provided fresh water to the Gulf, as it flowed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman . </P> <P> Bathymetric data suggests there were two palaeo - basins in the Persian Gulf . The central basin may have approached an area of 20,000 km2, comparable at its fullest extent to lakes such as Lake Malawi in Africa . Between 12,000 and 9000 years ago much of the Gulf floor would have remained exposed, only being flooded by the sea after 8,000 years ago . </P> <P> It is estimated that annual average temperatures in Southern Africa were 6 ° C lower than at present during the Last Glacial Maximum . This alone would however not have been enough to create a widespread glaciation or permafrost in the Drakensberg Mountains or the Lesotho Highlands . Seasonal freezing of the ground in the Lesotho Highlands might have reached depths of 2 meter or more below the surface . A few small glaciers did however develop during the Last Glacial Maximum, in particular in south - facing slopes . In the Hex River Mountains, in the Western Cape, block streams and terraces found near the summit of Matroosberg evidences past periglacial activity which likely occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum . </P> <P> The Australian mainland, New Guinea, Tasmania and many smaller islands comprised a single land mass . This continent is now referred to sometimes as Sahul . </P>

How did earth move from the last glacial maximum to the present glacial minimum