Holocene
Also called: Present interglacial · Topic: Climate Change: Causes, Evidence and the Global Response · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 11 "World Climate and Climate Change"
Meaning
The Holocene is the present warm interglacial, the warmer phase that followed the last ice age. It began about 11,700 years ago (NCERT says 10,000 years). Its climate has been fairly stable. Farming, settled villages and civilisations grew up within it. Its latest stage is the Meghalayan Age, which began 4,200 years ago.
Example
The Meghalayan Age was defined in 2018 from a stalagmite in Mawmluh Cave, Meghalaya, in north-east India. The stalagmite recorded the dry event of about 4,200 years ago. This is one of the few global geological time units named after a place in India.
Don't confuse with
- Anthropocene: a proposed new epoch marking human impact on the Earth. The IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences) rejected it in March 2024, so officially we still live in the Holocene.
- Pleistocene: the epoch just before the Holocene (about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago), with repeated ice ages.
Related concepts
- Climate change
- Climate proxies
- Glacial and interglacial periods
- Pleistocene epoch
- Past climate of Rajasthan