Scientists discover a new Meghalayan age in the history of the Earth

London, July 18 (IANS) Geologists have clbadified the last 4,200 years as a separate Earth Age and call it a new chapter – "the Meghalayan era" – whose beginning was marked by a mega-drought The new clbadification appeared after the discovery of stalagmites on the grounds of the Meghalaya State Caves, in northeastern India, which were considered significant evidence of the last distinction, reported Wednesday the BBC.

The existence of the land of 4.6 billion years is divided into time slices. Each slice corresponded to significant events – such as the collapse of continents, dramatic changes in climate, and even the emergence of particular types of animals and plants.

The present epoch in which we live is called the Holocene epoch. , which reflects everything that has happened over the last 11,700 years – since a dramatic warming has driven us out of the last ice age, the BBC reported.

But the Holocene itself can be subdivided, according to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS)

The ICS is the official guardian of geological time and proposed three stages to designate the phases upper, middle and lower of the time. They record all the major climatic events.

Meghalayan, the youngest stage, extends from 4200 years to 1950. It began with a destructive drought, the effects of which lasted two centuries and seriously disturbed the Egyptian, Greek, Syrian, Palestinian, Mesopotamian civilizations. , Indian and the Yangtze River Valley, adds the BBC Report

To gain clbadification, a geological time slice must generally reflect something whose effects are global in scope and badociated with a type of rock or clear and unambiguous sediment. 19659002] For the famous 66-million-year-old frontier marking the transition period from Cretaceous to Tertiary, this "golden tip" is represented by traces in the sediments of the iridium element. This has been spread across the planet in the debris scattered by the asteroid that has erased the dinosaurs.

For the Meghalayan, the spike is embodied in specific chemical signatures, the best example of which can be seen in the layers of stalagmites on it was probably triggered by changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation, said the ICS

The Meghalayan age is unique among the many intervals of the geological time scale. Its debut coincides with a global cultural event produced by a global climate event, said Stanley Finney, professor at Long Beach State University and secretary general of the International Union of Geological Sciences (UISG). ), which has ratified the proposal of the ICS

. The middle phase of the Holocene will be called Northgrippian and will extend from 8,300 years to the beginning of the Meghalayan. The beginning of this age was an abrupt cooling, attributed to large volumes of fresh water from melting glaciers in Canada that flow into the North Atlantic and disrupt ocean currents.

The earliest phase of the Holocene The Chronostratigraphic International Chart, the famous diagram depicting the Earth's history calendar will be updated, reported the BBC.

– IANS

in / mr