The Gelasian was introduced in the geologic timescale in 1998.[6] It is named after the Sicilian city of Gela in the south of the island. In 2009 it was moved from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene so that the geologic time scale would be more consistent with the key changes in Earth's climate, oceans, and biota that occurred 2.58 million years ago.[7]
The top of the Gelasian is defined magnetostratigraphically as the end of the Olduvai (C2n) chronozone, and faunally as the extinction level of the calcareous nannofossil Discoaster brouweri (base of biozone CN13). Above the Gelasian as the first occurrences of the calcareous nanofossil Gephyrocapsa sp. and the extinction level of the planktonic foraminiferGlobigerinoides extremus[9][6]
Climate
During the Gelasian the ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere began to grow, which is seen as the beginning of the Quaternary ice age. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 40 marine isotope stages (MIS 103 – MIS 64) during the age. Thus, there have probably been about 20 glacial cycles of varying intensity during the Gelasian.
Europe
In the regional glacial history of the Alps, this age is now called Biber. It corresponds to Pre-Tegelen and Tegelen in Northern Europe.[10]
^Cohen, K. M.; Finney, S. C.; Gibbard, P. L.; Fan, J.-X. (January 2020). "International Chronostratigraphic Chart"(PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
^Gibbard, Philip L.; Head, Martin J.; Walker, Michael J. C. (2009), "Formal ratification of the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch with a base at 2.58 Ma", Journal of Quaternary Science, 25 (2): 96, doi:10.1002/jqs.1338
Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G. & Smith, Alan G. (eds.) (2005) A Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, ISBN0-521-78142-6