We are now living in a new geologic era , according to scientists responsible for standardize theGeologic Time Scale . After a ten of work , the International Commission on Stratigraphy ( ICS ) has formally declared the Holocene Epoch , defined as the geologic period that ’s been fall out since the last Ice Age , is now subdivided into three ERA .
The most recent start 4,200 years ago and is what we ’re living in now . appoint the Late Holocene Meghalayan Age , it was discovered by analyzing stalagmites ( the pointy things made from Ca Strategic Arms Limitation Talks that rise up from cave floors ) found in a cave in northeast India .
What makes the Meghalayan Age special is that its birth coincides with a ethnic outcome sparked by a ball-shaped climatical event . Dubbed the “ 4.2 kiloyear climatical event ” , this time period has rocked finish and is bear witness in sediments on all seven continents .
This time period started with a 200 - year “ mega - drought ” that break up civilizations around the world . At this time , civilizations in Egypt , Greece , Syria , Palestine , Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley , and the Yangtze River Valley had get going to determine down and expend agricultural practice session , concord to astatementfrom Long Beach State University . After the onset of this 200 - class climatical case , the societies were forced to migrate worldwide .
The ICS approved the change after a decade of work , withformal approvalgranted by the International Union of Geological Sciences ( IUGS ) .
The two other earned run average – the Middle Holocene Northgrippian Age ( 8,300 yr ago ) and the former Holocene Greenlandian Age ( 11,700 age ago ) – were defined by identifying levels in ice kernel extracted in Greenland . Together , the three comprise the Holocene Epoch , encompassing the time since the last Ice Age . Both the stalagmite and crank cores are now recognise as international geostandards and have been station in protected archives for further study .
Such events are characterized in sedimentary strata accumulated over time as deposit eccentric , fossils , and chemical isotope are contained within them , recording the account of our world and the physical and biological events that shaped them .
