Würm Stage

named after the Wiirm River in Bavaria, Federal Republic of Germany, the name of the last stage of the Pleistocene glacial epoch in the Alps. The Wurm glaciation is divided into three phases—Wiirm-I, Wiirm-II, and Wurm-III—of which the second phase is characterized by a reduction in the area of glaciation and is sometimes regarded as an interglacial phase dividing two independent glaciations. The Wiirm glaciation is comparable to the Vistula (Weichsel) glaciation of Northern and Central Europe, the Valdai glaciation (equivalent to both the Kalinin and Ostashkov glaciations) on the East European Plain, and the Wisconsin glaciation in North America.