The Quaternary Period
The Quaternary Period, comprising the Holocene and Pleistocene Epochs, encompasses the last ~2.6 Ma during which time Earth’s climate was strongly influenced by bi- polar glaciation and the genus Homo first appeared and evolved. The base of the Quaternary System/Period and Pleistocene Series/Epoch is...
Main Authors: | , |
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Other Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Book Part |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Elsevier
2012
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/2605/ https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-59425-9.00030-5 |
Summary: | The Quaternary Period, comprising the Holocene and Pleistocene Epochs, encompasses the last ~2.6 Ma during which time Earth’s climate was strongly influenced by bi- polar glaciation and the genus Homo first appeared and evolved. The base of the Quaternary System/Period and Pleistocene Series/Epoch is defined by the GSSP for the Gelasian Stage at Monte San Nicola section in Italy. The base of the Holocene Series/Epoch is defined at a depth of 1492.45 m in the NGRIP ice core from Greenland, with an age based on annual layer counting, of 11 700 years b2k (before AD2000), with a 2s uncertainty of 99 years; it is the first and only GSSP to be defined in an ice core. |
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