<P> For an introduction to the radiocarbon dating techniques used by archaeologists and geologists, see radiocarbon dating . </P> <P> During the Wisconsin Glaciation, varying portions of the Earth's water were stored as glacier ice . As water accumulated in glaciers, the volume of water in the oceans correspondingly decreased, resulting in lowering of global sea level . The variation of sea level over time has been reconstructed using oxygen isotope analysis of deep sea cores, the dating of marine terraces, and high resolution oxygen isotope sampling from ocean basins and modern ice caps . A drop of eustatic sea level by about 60 m to 120 m lower than present - day levels, commencing around 30,000 years BP, created Beringia, a durable and extensive geographic feature connecting Siberia with Alaska . With the rise of sea level after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Beringian land bridge was again submerged . Estimates of the final re-submergence of the Beringian land bridge based purely on present bathymetry of the Bering Strait and eustatic sea level curve place the event around 11,000 years BP (Figure 1). Ongoing research reconstructing Beringian paleogeography during deglaciation could change that estimate and possible earlier submergence could further constrain models of human migration into North America . </P> <P> The onset of the Last Glacial Maximum after 30,000 years BP saw the expansion of alpine glaciers and continental ice sheets that blocked migration routes out of Beringia . By 21,000 years BP, and possibly thousands of years earlier, the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets coalesced east of the Rocky Mountains, closing off a potential migration route into the center of North America . Alpine glaciers in the coastal ranges and the Alaskan Peninsula isolated the interior of Beringia from the Pacific coast . Coastal alpine glaciers and lobes of Cordilleran ice coalesced into piedmont glaciers that covered large stretches of the coastline as far south as Vancouver Island and formed an ice lobe across the Straits of Juan de Fuca by 15,000 C years BP (18,000 cal years BP). Coastal alpine glaciers started to retreat around 19,000 cal years BP while Cordilleran ice continued advancing in the Puget lowlands up to 14,000 C years BP (16,800 cal years BP) Even during the maximum extent of coastal ice, unglaciated refugia persisted on present - day islands, that supported terrestrial and marine mammals . As deglaciation occurred, refugia expanded until the coast became ice - free by 15,000 cal years BP . The retreat of glaciers on the Alaskan Peninsula provided access from Beringia to the Pacific coast by around 17,000 cal years BP . The ice barrier between interior Alaska and the Pacific coast broke up starting around 13,500 C years (16,200 cal years) BP . The ice - free corridor to the interior of North America opened between 13,000 and 12,000 cal years BP . Glaciation in eastern Siberia during the LGM was limited to alpine and valley glaciers in mountain ranges and did not block access between Siberia and Beringia . </P> <P> The paleoclimates and vegetation of eastern Siberia and Alaska during the Wisconsin glaciation have been deduced from high resolution oxygen isotope data and pollen stratigraphy . Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum, climates in eastern Siberia fluctuated between conditions approximating present day conditions and colder periods . The pre-LGM warm cycles in Arctic Siberia saw flourishes of megafaunas . The oxygen isotope record from the Greenland Ice Cap suggests that these cycles after about 45k years BP lasted anywhere from hundreds to between one and two thousand years, with greater duration of cold periods starting around 32k cal years BP . The pollen record from Elikchan Lake, north of the Sea of Okhotsk, shows a marked shift from tree and shrub pollen to herb pollen prior to 26k C years BP, as herb tundra replaced boreal forest and shrub steppe going into the LGM . A similar record of tree / shrub pollen being replaced with herb pollen as the LGM approached was recovered near the Kolyma River in Arctic Siberia . The abandonment of the northern regions of Siberia due to rapid cooling or the retreat of game species with the onset of the LGM has been proposed to explain the lack of archaeosites in that region dating to the LGM . The pollen record from the Alaskan side shows shifts between herb / shrub and shrub tundra prior to the LGM, suggesting less dramatic warming episodes than those that allowed forest colonization on the Siberian side . Diverse, though not necessarily plentiful, megafaunas were present in those environments . Herb tundra dominated during the LGM, due to cold and dry conditions . </P>

When did the ice-free corridor open in north america allowing one path for human migration from asia