Part of the Cenozoic Era
Neogene Period - Quaternary Period - The Future
The Quaternary Period is the third, and final, period of the Cenozoic Era, is the twelfth, and final, period of the Phanerozoic Eon, and is ongoing. The Quaternary begins with the Quaternary glaciation, better known as the "Ice Age" and extents to the present day. This period was once the successor of the Tertiary Period, which became obsolete along with the Quaternary, in favor of the Paleogene and the Neogene. The Quaternary would be revived shortly after as a period separate from the Neogene and with an earlier start date than it had previously. The Quaternary is characterized by a series of glaciations that continue to this day, most famously including the Ice Age.
Extinction has characterized the Quaternary, as many forms of megafauna ceased to exist during this period, including American cheetahs, saber-toothed cats, mastodons, mammoths, and glyptodonts. Horses and camels would become extinct in North America.
Humans would emerge as the dominant species throughout most of the world during the Quaternary, in a manner that no species before it ever had.
It is believed that a cosmic impact occurred at 0.0129 MYA, as a spike in nanodiamonds only created by cosmic impact indicates. With these nanodiamonds, impact spherules, and aciniform soot continent-wide in North America, it is one of only two continent-wide occurrences like it, the other being the Creataceous-Paleogene impact.
The Quaternary is subdivided into three epochs: the Pleistocene, the Holocene, and the Anthropocene.
Quaternary Timescale:
Quaternary Period - 2.58-0 MYA
-Pleistocene Epoch - 2.58-0.0118 MYA
--Gelasian Age - 2.58-1.8 MYA
--Calabrian Age - 1.8-0.773 MYA
--Ionian Age - 0.773-0.126 MYA
--Tarantian Age - 0.126-0.0118 MYA
-Holocene Epoch - 0.0118-0.000218 MYA
--Early Holocene Age - 0.0118-0.0082 MYA
--Middle Holocene Age - 0.0082-0.0042 MYA
--Late Holocene Age - 0.0042-0.000218 MYA
-Anthropocene Epoch - 0.000218-0 MYA