Chapter 30 - The Quaternary Period

Abstract

The Quaternary System/Period, comprising the Holocene and Pleistocene series/epochs, encompasses the last ~2.6Myr during which time Earth’s climate was strongly influenced by bipolar glaciation, and the genus Homo first appeared and diversified. The base of the Quaternary System and Pleistocene Series is defined by the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Gelasian Stage at Monte San Nicola in Italy with an age of 2.58Ma. The Calabrian Stage of the Lower Pleistocene Subseries is defined by a GSSP at the Vrica section, also in Italy, with an age of 1.80Ma. The Chibanian Stage of the Middle Pleistocene Subseries is defined by a GSSP at the Chiba section in Japan with an age of 0.774 Ma. The Upper Pleistocene subseries is defined in name only with an age of ~129ka. The base of the Holocene Series is defined in the NGRIP2 Greenland ice core with an age of 11 700 years b2k (before CE 2000). The Holocene is subdivided into lower, middle, and upper subseries and their corresponding Greenlandian, Northgrippian, and Meghalayan stages. The Northgrippian Stage is defined by a GSSP in the NGRIP1 Greenland ice core with an age of 8.2ka, and the Meghalayan Stage by a GSSP in a speleothem from India with an age of 4.2ka. These are the only GSSPs ever to be defined in an ice core or a speleothem.