Quaternary science
Encyclopedia
Quaternary science is an inter-disciplinary field of study focusing on the Quaternary
period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years. The field studies the last ice age
and the recent interstadial the Holocene
and uses proxy evidence to reconstruct the past environments during this period to infer the climatic
and environmental changes that have occurred.
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years. The field studies the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
and the recent interstadial the Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
and uses proxy evidence to reconstruct the past environments during this period to infer the climatic
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
and environmental changes that have occurred.
Quaternary science journals
- Boreas
- Geografiska Annaler (Series A)Geografiska AnnalerGeografiska Annaler is a scientific journal published by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. The journal is published in two series A and B. Series A deals with arctic research, physical geography, glaciology and quaternary science in general...
- Journal of Quaternary ScienceJournal of Quaternary ScienceThe Journal of Quaternary Science is a peer-reviewed academic journal published on behalf of the Quaternary Research Association. It covers research on any aspect of quaternary science. The journal publishes predominantly research articles with two thematic issues published annually, although...
- Quaternary GeochronologyQuaternary GeochronologyQuaternary Geochronology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal addressing methods and results in the dating of samples from the Quaternary Period....
- Quaternary InternationalQuaternary InternationalQuaternary International is scientific journal on Quaternary science published by Elsevier on behalf of the International Union for Quaternary Research....
See also
- International Union for Quaternary ResearchInternational Union for Quaternary ResearchThe International Union for Quaternary Research was founded in 1928. It has members from a number of scientific disciplines who study the environmental changes that occurred during the glacial ages, the last 2.6 million years...
- PalynologyPalynologyPalynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, orbicules, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments...
- 100,000-year problem100,000-year problemThe 100,000-year problem is a discrepancy between past temperatures and the amount of incoming solar radiation, or insolation. The former rises and falls according to the strength of radiation from the sun, the distance from the earth to the sun, and the tilt of the Earth's poles...
- GeochronologyGeochronologyGeochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments, within a certain degree of uncertainty inherent to the method used. A variety of dating methods are used by geologists to achieve this, and schemes of classification and terminology have been proposed...