[Aqualist] Redefining the Quaternary

[Tim Barrows]

 From Brad Pillans <brad.pillans at anu.edu.au>

A copy of Brad's letter will be made available on the AQUA website (or 
request a copy directly):

http://rses.anu.edu.au/enproc/AQUADATA/AQUA.html (under AQUAlist).

Colleagues -

The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), under the auspices of 
IUGS and ICSU, is revising the Geological Time Scale. A proposed revision 
of great consequence to the Quaternary community is an extension of the 
Neogene System to the present. The Pleistocene and Holocene would be 
retained as Series, but the Quaternary would be eliminated as a System. An 
argument made by ICS is that the "Quaternary" and "Tertiary" are archaic 
terms. Elimination of Quaternary as a System is clearly a highly charged 
issue, but ICS seems determined to make the change, whether or not 
Quaternarists agree.

INQUA does not accept the elimination of the word "Quaternary" from the 
Geological Time Scale. Accordingly, its Commission on Stratigraphy and 
Geochronology has suggested a compromise to the INQUA Executive Committee 
that may or may not be acceptable to both the larger Quaternary community 
and ICS (see attached letter and proposal from Brad Pillans). The gist of 
the proposal is to define a Quaternary Subsystem that encompasses the 
present Pleistocene and Holocene Series, as well as the Gelasian Stage 
(2.6-1.8 Ma). Under this proposal, the boundaries of the Pleistocene and 
Holocene would remain unchanged.

The INQUA Executive Committee ask for your feedback on this important 
issue. Please send your comments to John Clague (jclague at sfu.ca) and Brad 
Pillans (brad.pillans at anu.edu.au).


INQUA Executive Committee:
John J. Clague
Nicholas Shackleton
Peter Coxon
Margaret Avery
Allan Chivas
Jan Piotrowski
Denis-Didier Rousseau
An Zhiseng

________________________________________________________________________
DR BRAD PILLANS				
SENIOR FELLOW				
RESEARCH SCHOOL OF EARTH SCIENCES	
THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
CANBERRA, ACT, 0200, AUSTRALIA

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