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The Quaternary (/ k w ə ˈ t ɜːr n ə r i, ˈ k w ɒ t ər n ɛr i / kwə-TUR-nə-ree, KWOT-ər-nerr-ee) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the Phanerozoic eon. [3]
Early modern period – The chronological limits of this period are open to debate. It emerges from the Late Middle Ages (c. 1500), demarcated by historians as beginning with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, in forms such as the Italian Renaissance in the West, the Ming dynasty in the East, and the rise of the Aztecs in the New World.
A period is equivalent to a chronostratigraphic system. [14] [13] There are 22 defined periods, with the current being the Quaternary period. [2] As an exception, two subperiods are used for the Carboniferous Period. [14] An epoch is the second smallest geochronologic unit. It is equivalent to a chronostratigraphic series.
Quaternary science is a field of study which involves geography, biology, chemistry, and physics. [4] Its focus is during the Quaternary Period – a time period that started around 2.58 million years ago and which continues to the present day. [1] Earth has been affected by the events that occurred during the Quaternary Period – a time of ...
The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing.
It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. [4] The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene [5] together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene is an interglacial period within the ongoing glacial cycles of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 1.
A less severe cold period or ice age is shown during the Jurassic-Cretaceous (150 Ma). There have been five or six major ice ages in the history of Earth over the past 3 billion years. The Late Cenozoic Ice Age began 34 million years ago, its latest phase being the Quaternary glaciation, in progress since 2.58 million years ago.
Quaternary geology is the branch of geology that study developments from 2.58 million years ago to the present. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In particular, Quaternary geology study the process and deposits that developed during the Quaternary , a period characterized by glacial - interglacial cycles.