Beringia

Beringia encompasses areas on both sides of the Bering Strait, including eastern Siberia, Alaska and the continental shelf now submerged beneath the Bering and Chukchi seas. During glacial periods, water stored in large ice sheets lowered global sea level and exposed parts of this shallow shelf. The resulting land connection, often called the Bering Land Bridge, linked Asia and North America. When sea level rose as ice melted, the connection was submerged and the Bering Strait became a marine passage between the Pacific and Arctic oceans. The precise timing of exposure and flooding varied with sea level and the response of Earth's crust to changing ice loads.

Beringia was not simply a narrow bridge. Exposed lowlands formed a broad region with varied habitats, including relatively dry, often ice-free areas during some glacial intervals. This landscape enabled movement and exchange of terrestrial species between continents. It is also central to research into the peopling of the Americas. Evidence and interpretations continue to develop; researchers consider both inland and coastal routes, and the existence of the land connection alone does not establish when or how particular groups travelled through it.

Scientists infer past connections from geological, oceanographic and biological evidence. One recent reconstruction used nitrogen-isotope signals in Arctic seafloor sediments, together with models of changing local sea level, to infer that the Bering Strait was open to Pacific water before about 36,000 years ago, became a land connection from roughly 36,000 to 11,000 years ago, and was flooded again thereafter. These dates describe the interval examined by that study and its evidence; older and newer episodes across the Quaternary require additional records and modelling. Local relative sea level can differ from global averages because ice sheets deform Earth's crust and exert gravitational effects on ocean water.

The former land connection is now largely underwater, but its geological history remains visible in the region's landscapes and sediments. Bering Land Bridge National Preserve on Alaska's Seward Peninsula protects part of the broader area, including tundra, permafrost features and volcanic terrain. The modern strait separates Russia and Alaska while continuing to connect the Pacific and Arctic marine systems.