Late Quaternary
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Holocene Epoch |
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| Holocene |
The Holocene ( /ˈhɒləˌsiːn, ˈhoʊ-/) is the geological epoch that began after the at approximately 11,700 years before present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek words ὅλος (holos, whole or entire) and καινός (kainos, new), meaning "entirely recent". It has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS 1, and is considered by some to be an interglacial period.
The Holocene encompasses the growth and impacts of the human species worldwide, including all its written history, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition toward urban living in the present. Human impacts on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global significance for future evolution of living species, including approximately synchronous lithospheric evidence, or more recently atmospheric evidence of human impacts. The International Commission on Stratigraphy Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy’s working group on the 'Anthropocene' (coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000) note this term is used to denote the present time interval in which many geologically significant conditions and processes have been profoundly altered by human activities. The 'Anthropocene' is not a formally defined geological unit.
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