THE QUATERNARY SYSTEM/PERIOD AND ITS MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS
Ph.L. Gibbard
Cambridge Quaternary, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EN, England, UK
Keywords: Quaternary, Pleistocene, Holocene, Anthropocene, Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP)
Abstract
The Quaternary System/Period represents the past 2.58 million years and is officially subdivided into the Pleistocene and Holocene series/epochs, with the base of the Holocene assigned an age of 11,700 calendar years before AD 2000. The lowest two stages (ages) of the Pleistocene, the Gelasian (base 2.58 Ma) and the Calabrian (base 1.80 Ma), have been officially approved and constitute the Lower Pleistocene Subseries/Subepoch. The Middle and Upper Pleistocene have yet to be formally defined, which is a crucial future challenge, along with the subdivision of the Holocene, consideration of the Anthropocene, and fine-scale subdivision of the Quaternary.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2015.03.015
|
