Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Walker, Mike
• Gibbard, Phil
• Head, Martin J.
• Berkelhammer, Max
• Björck, Svante
• Cheng, Hai
• Cwynar, Les C.
• Fisher, David
• Gkinis, Vasilios
• Long, Antony
• Lowe, John
• Newnham, Rewi
• Rasmussen, Sune Olander
• Weiss, Harvey

Titel

Formal Subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch: A Summary

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the Geological Society of India, 2019-02, Vol.93 (2), p.135-141

Ort / Verlag

New Delhi: Geological Society of India

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The Holocene Series/Epoch is the most recent series/epoch in the geological timescale, spanning the interval from 11,700 yr to the present day. Together with the subadjacent Pleistocene, it comprises the Quaternary System/Period. The Holocene record contains diverse geomorphological, biological, climatological and archaeological evidence, within sequences that are often continuous and extremely well-preserved at decadal, annual and even seasonal resolution. As a consequence, the Holocene is perhaps the most intensively-studied series/epoch within the entire Geological Time Scale. Yet until recently little attention had been paid to a formal subdivision of the Holocene. Here we describe an initiative by the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) to develop a formal stratigraphical subdivision of the Holocene, with three new stages/ages, two underpinned by Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs in an ice core, and a third in a speleothem. These stages/ages are defined together with their equivalent subseries/subepochs. The new stages/ages are the Greenlandian with its GSSP in the Greenland NGRIP2 ice core and dated at 11,700 yr b2k (before 2000 CE); the Northgrippian with its GSSP in the Greenland NGRIP1 ice core and dated to 8236 yr b2k; and the Meghalayan, with its GSSP in a speleothem from Mawmluh Cave, northeastern India, with a date of 4250 yr b2k. This subdivision was formally ratified by the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) on 14 th June 2018.