Formal Subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch: A Summary
Authors
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School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology, Trinity Saint David, University of Wales, Lampeter, Wales SA48 7EJ
Mike Walker -
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB1 3ER, England
Phil Gibbard
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Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario LS2 3A1
Martin J. Head
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Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois 60607
Max Berkelhammer
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Department of Geology, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Sölveg 12, SE-22362, Lund
Svante Björck
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Institute of Global Change, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xian, Shaanxi 710049
Hai Cheng
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Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada
Les C. Cwynar
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Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1N 615, Canada
David Fisher
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Centre for Ice and Climate, The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100, Copenhagen
Vasilios Gkinis
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Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE
Antony Long
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Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX
John Lowe
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School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012
Rewi Newnham
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Centre for Ice and Climate, The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Julian Maries Vej 30, DK-2100, Copenhagen
Sune Olander Rasmussen
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School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511
Harvey Weiss
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-019-1141-9Keywords:
No KeywordsAbstract
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 14th June 2018.
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