Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy

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Global correlation tables for the Quaternary

Chronostratigraphical correlation charts published by the Subcommission of Quaternary Stratigraphy (ISQS)

The global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years is intended to provide a simple pictorial guide to correlation of the chronostratigraphical subdivisions of geological time during the late Cenozoic. This major compilation by P.L.Gibbard, S.Boreham, K.M.Cohen & A.Moscariello fulfills Task C of the SQS Science Plan and is now available. The printing and distribution is supported by Royal Dutch Shell BV.

The timescale of the correlation table is based on the internationally-recognised formal time subdivisions: the Phanerozoic Eon; the Cenozoic Era; the Quaternary System or Period; the Pleistocene and Holocene Series, and finally the Early/Lower, Middle, Late/Upper Pleistocene Subseries. At present the subseries divisions of the Pleistocene are not formalised.
Series, and thereby systems, are formally-defined based on Global Stratotype Section and Points (GSSP) of which two have been ratified within the last 2.7 million years. The base of the Quaternary/Pleistocene is defined at 1.81 million years from a GSSP at Vrica in southern Italy.

Two versions of the chart are now available a 2005 version and the latest 2007 version. The latter shows the nomenclature following the ICS formal voting (14.4.07) and the anticipated ratification by IUGS.

2005 version

The chart is now available in poster (A1) and desktop (A3) sizes and digitally as a JPEG file.

NOTE: The first generation of privately published hard copies ( v. 2004 ) of the chart contains one serious error:
The depicted Vostok curve is not the data of Petit et al. 1999, but in fact a benthic foram deep sea marine curve.
The files on this web-page have been corrected for this and now do depict the Vostok data correctly (12.08.04, v. 2004b ).
Displayed is v. 2005/7 in low resolution - Click for a bigger JPG version (896 Kb). A web-version of the erroneous earlier v. 2004 version is archived here .
A printable version (EPS / PDF) is also available.

Full accompanying text for download here (in PDF format)
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Full references are available here (in Word format) .

• This chart is now also available in Boreas 2005 volume 34, issue 1.

2007 version

The chart is now available digitally as a TIF or JPEG file. The v. 2007 is displayed in low resolution - Click for a bigger jpg version (2.4 Mb) or a jpg version (845 Kb). A printable version (PDF) is also available.

The accompanying reference list will be posted shortly.

Chronostratigraphical Chart for the last 3 million years for the Iberian Quaternary produced by AEQUA

Tabla Cronoestratigráfica del Cuaternario de la Península Ibérica. Click on chart to download high-resolution jpeg (4.2 Mb) version.

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• Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs) chart for the QUATERNARY compiled by J.Ogg for the International Commission on Stratigraphy - modified version by PLG March 2004. Click to download.

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• The Quaternary chapter by P.Gibbard & Th. van Kolfschoten in the A Geologic Time Scale 2004 Felix Gradstein, Jim Ogg & Alan Smith (editors). In the book this chapter includes a correlation chart from which the term Quaternary has been omitted. A version of the chapter accompanied by a CORRECTED correlation chart, including the term QUATERNARY, which includes a CORRECTED version of the correlation chart, including the term QUATERNARYavailable here.
• Links to discussion on the status of the Quaternary as a formal chronstratigraphic unit.

in Quaternary Perspectives (INQUA newsletter), for download here , from within the latest issue of Quaternary International (Vol 122 (1), p. 123-133);
in Episodes (IUGS newsletter).