This is because of locally moister and globally cooler conditions at high elevations. In addition to providing cool, moist homes for glaciers, mountains also have affected the climate of the Earth.
Mountains cause disturbances in airflow, altering global circulation patterns.
Plate Mobility Evidence of past glaciation in locations such as southern Africa, Australia, and India, long confounded scientists. Plate tectonic theory solved this problem. As the Earth's tectonic plates migrate at a rate of 1-16 cm per year, the continents move in and out of polar areas. In the adjacent image we see the continents clustered in the southern hemisphere. This continent cluster, known as Pangaea, created a large land mass at high southern latitudes, allowing for a great glacial extent about 300 million years ago.