Late Pleistocene
| Subdivisions of the Quaternary Period | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| System/ Period |
Series/ Epoch |
Stage/ Age |
Age | |
| Quaternary | Holocene | Meghalayan | 0 | 4,200 |
| Northgrippian | 4,200 | 8,200 | ||
| Greenlandian | 8,200 | 11,700 | ||
| Pleistocene | 'Upper' | 11,700 | 129ka | |
| Chibanian | 129ka | 774ka | ||
| Calabrian | 774ka | 1.80Ma | ||
| Gelasian | 1.80Ma | 2.58Ma | ||
| Neogene | Pliocene | Piacenzian | 2.58Ma | 3.60Ma |
Subdivision of the Quaternary Period according to the ICS, as of January 2020.[1]
For the Holocene, dates are relative to the year 2000 (e.g. Greenlandian began 11,700 years before 2000). For the beginning of the Northgrippian a date of 8,236 years before 2000 has been set.[2] The Meghalayan has been set to begin 4,250 years before 2000.[1] 'Tarantian' is an informal, unofficial name proposed for a stage/age to replace the equally informal, unofficial 'Upper Pleistocene' subseries/subepoch. In Europe and North America, the Holocene is subdivided into Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal, and Subatlantic stages of the Blytt–Sernander time scale. There are many regional subdivisions for the Upper or Late Pleistocene; usually these represent locally recognized cold (glacial) and warm (interglacial) periods. The last glacial period ends with the cold Younger Dryas substage. | ||||
The Late Pleistocene is a geochronological age of the Pleistocene Epoch and is associated with Upper Pleistocene or Tarantian stage Pleistocene series rocks. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the age is defined as 11,700 years ago.[3][4][5] The age represents the end of the Pleistocene epoch and is followed by the Holocene epoch.
Much of the Late Pleistocene age was dominated by glaciation (the Wisconsin glaciation in North America and corresponding glacial periods in Eurasia). Many megafauna became extinct over this age, a trend that continued into the Holocene. Also, human species other than modern humans died out during the Pleistocene. Humanity spread to every continent except for Antarctica during the Late Pleistocene.
North America
According to George Carr Frison, Bison occidentalis and Bison antiquus, an extinct subspecies of the smaller present-day bison, survived the Late Pleistocene period, between about 12 and 11 ka ago. Plains and Rocky Mountain First Nations depended on these bison as their major food source.[6][Notes 1] Earlier kills of camels, horses, and muskoxen found at Wally's beach were dated to 13.1–13.3 ka B.P.[7]
Notes
- ^ Frison noted that the "oldest, well-documented bison kills by pedestrian human hunters in North America date to about 11,000 years ago".
Citations
- ^ a b c Cohen, K. M.; Finney, S. C.; Gibbard, P. L.; Fan, J.-X. (January 2020). "International Chronostratigraphic Chart" (PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- ^ a b Mike Walker; et al. (December 2018). "Formal ratification of the subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Period)" (PDF). Episodes. 41 (4). Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS): 213–223. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2018/018016. Retrieved 11 November 2019. This proposal on behalf of the SQS has been approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and formally ratified by the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).
- ^ Walker et al.
- ^ "Major Divisions". Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. International Commission on Stratigraphy. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
- ^ For the top of the series, see: Lourens, L., Hilgen, F., Shackleton, N.J., Laskar, J., Wilson, D., (2004) "The Neogene Period". In: Gradstein, F., Ogg, J., Smith, A.G. (Eds.), A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Frison 2000.
- ^ Michael R. Waters; Thomas W. Stafford Jr.; Brian Kooyman; L. V. Hills (March 23, 2015). "Late Pleistocene horse and camel hunting at the southern margin of the ice-free corridor: Reassessing the age of Wally's Beach, Canada". PNAS. doi:10.1073/pnas.1420650112.
References
- Frison, George C. (August 2000), Prehistoric Human and Bison Relationships on the Plains of North America, Edmonton, Alberta: International Bison Conference
{{citation}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Walker, M.; Johnsen, S.; Rasmussen, S.O.; Popp, T.; Steffensen, J.-P.; Gibbard, P.; Hoek, W.; Lowe, J.; John, A.; John, B.; Björck, S.; L. Cwynar; K. Hughen; K. Konrad; K. Peter; B. Kromer; T. Litt; D.J. Lowe; T. Nakagawa; R. Newnham; J. Schwander (2009) [2008]. "Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records" (PDF). Journal of Quaternary Science. 24 (11). John Wiley & Sons: 3–17. doi:10.1002/jqs.1227. ISSN 0267-8179. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
Further reading
- Ehlers, J., and P.L. Gibbard, 2004a, Quaternary Glaciations: Extent and Chronology 2: Part II North America. Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN 0-444-51462-7
- Ehlers, J., and P L. Gibbard, 2004b, Quaternary Glaciations: Extent and Chronology 3: Part III: South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica. ISBN 0-444-51593-3
- Gillespie, A.R., S.C. Porter, and B.F. Atwater, 2004, The Quaternary Period in the United States. Developments in Quaternary Science no. 1. Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN 978-0-444-51471-4
- Mangerud, J., J. Ehlers, and P. Gibbard, 2004, Quaternary Glaciations : Extent and Chronology 1: Part I Europe. Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN 0-444-51462-7
- Sibrava, V., Bowen, D.Q, and Richmond, G.M., 1986, Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 1–514.
Paleoclimatology stages
- Younger Dryas
- Allerød
- Older Dryas
- Bølling
- Oldest Dryas
- North American Land Mammal Ages within the Late Pleistocene: Rancholabrean age 0.3 Ma. Upper boundary 0.011 Ma.
