Middle Pleistocene

Subdivisions of the Quaternary System
System/
Period		 Series/
Epoch		 Stage/
Age		 Age (Ma)
Quaternary Holocene Meghalayan 0 0.0042
Northgrippian 0.0042 0.0082
Greenlandian 0.0082 0.0117
Pleistocene 'Tarantian' 0.0117 0.126
'Chibanian' 0.126 0.781
Calabrian 0.781 1.80
Gelasian 1.80 2.58
Neogene Pliocene Piacenzian older
Subdivision of the Quaternary period according to the ICS, as of 2018.[1]

For the Holocene, dates are relative to the year 2000 (e.g. Greenlandian began 11,700 years before 2000). For the begin 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, apparently from a calibrated radio-carbon date of 4,200 years BP i.e. before 1950.[3]

'Chibanian' and 'Tarantian' are informal, unofficial names proposed to replace the also informal, unofficial 'Middle Pleistocene' and 'Upper Pleistocene' subseries/subepochs respectively.

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 Middle Pleistocene is an informal, unofficial subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch,[4] from 781,000 to 126,000 years ago.[5]

The base of the Middle Pleistocene succeeds the Calabrian Stage (the beginning of the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal) and precedes the Tarantian Stage or Upper Pleistocene, which in turn spans from the beginning of the last interglacial (Marine isotopic stage 5) to the base of the Holocene (~10.5 ka).

Definition process

Around the start of this century, the ICS Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy had intended to formally divide the Pleistocene Epoch into three subepochs/subseries: the Early/Lower Pleistocene, the Middle Pleistocene and the Late/Upper Pleistocene. In 2009, however, the ICS's governing body (the IUGS), overruled this approach, preferring instead to divide the Pleistocene Epoch into four ages/stages. Some GSSP candidate sites were selected and informal names based on these locations were proposed. This resulted in the 2009 proposal that the Middle Pleistocene subepoch/subseries should be replaced by the Ionian age/stage, the start/base of which would be defined at a location in Italy.[4]

Ionian

The Ionian stage includes all of the European Sicilian Stage and the first part of the Tyrrhenian Stage.

Suitable sections for defining the base of the Ionian Stage are located in southern Italy. During Lower and Middle Pleistocene the Adriatic-Ionian margin was characterized by high sedimentation rates, in response to intense differential tectonic subsidence and massive sedimentary yield. Specifically, candidate sections are the “Montalbano Jonico” Section (Bradanic Trough, Basilicata Region) and the “Valle di Manche Nord” Section (San Mauro Marchesato, Crotone Basin, Calabria Region). In the former, a spectacular succession of marls laid in the Apennine foredeep is exposed which, however, are unfortunately unsuitable for magnetostratigraphic analyses. The latter, which is represented by a shallowing-upward succession that developed in an outer-shelf environment, has the bonus of a sharp biomagnetostratigraphic record, which provides tighter age control.

Besides these exposures, a number of Ocean Drilling Program cores drilled either in the Ionian Sea (Site 964) and in the Sicily Channel-Capo Rossello area (Site 963) are available, which correlate well with the on-land sections mentioned above based on a significant number of criteria (magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, sapropel stratigraphy, stable isotopes, Tephrochronology). The interval corresponding to the Ionian Stage is especially well represented in Site 963, where no turbidites and/or hiatuses are recognized. Presently, the Montalbano Ionico section is possibly the main candidate for defining the Lower - Middle Pleistocene boundary, when a reliable magnetostratigraphic record is found. The oldest known human's DNA dates to the Middle Pleistocene.

Chibanian

In November 2017, the Chibanian (defined at a site in Chiba Prefecture, Japan) replaced the Ionian as the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy's preferred GSSP proposal for the age/stage that should replace the Middle Pleistocene subepoch/subseries. Until the Chibanian is ratified by the IUGS, the Chibanian will remain an unofficial informal, proposed stratigraphic division[6] and Middle Pleistocene remains the ICS's unofficial name for this time period and series of rocks.[5]

Faunal stages

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, K.M.; Finney, S.C.; Gibbard, P.L.; Fan, J.-X. "International Chronostratigraphic Chart". International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  2. ↑ "IUGS ratifies Holocene". Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "announcement ICS chart v2018/07". Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Formal subdivision of the Pleistocene Series/Epoch". Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (International Commission on Stratigraphy). 4 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-11-17. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 "International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2017/02". International Commission on Stratigraphy. 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Japan-based name 'Chibanian' set to represent geologic age of last magnetic shift". The Japan Times. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
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