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Where did the word 'Holocene' come from?
What epoch is Holocene?
When did the Holocene end?
How did the Holocene epoch start?
The word Holocene was formed from two Ancient Greek words. Hólos is the Greek word for "whole". "Cene" comes from the Greek word kainós (καινός), meaning "new". The concept is that this epoch is "entirely new". The suffix '-cene' is used for all the seven epochs of the Cenozoic Era. Overview
Where does the word Holocene come from? Earliest known use. 1890s. The earliest known use of the word Holocene is in the 1890s. OED's earliest evidence for Holocene is from 1897, in Quarterly Journal Geol. Society. Holocene is a borrowing from French. Etymons: French holocène. See etymology.
- Overview
- Chronology and correlation
Holocene Epoch, younger of the two formally recognized epochs that constitute the Quaternary Period and the latest interval of geologic time, covering approximately the last 11,700 years of Earth’s history. The sediments of the Holocene, both continental and marine, cover the largest area of the globe of any epoch in the geologic record, but the Holocene is unique because it is coincident with the late and post-Stone Age history of humankind. The influence of humans is of world extent and is so profound that it seems appropriate to have a special geologic name for this time.
In 1833 Charles Lyell proposed the designation Recent for the period that has elapsed since “the earth has been tenanted by man.” It is now known that humans have been in existence a great deal longer. The term Holocene was proposed in 1867 and was formally submitted to the International Geological Congress at Bologna, Italy, in 1885. It was officially endorsed by the U.S. Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature in 1969.
The Holocene is unique among geologic epochs because varied means of correlating deposits and establishing chronologies are available. One of the most important means is carbon-14 dating. Because the age determined by the carbon-14 method may be appreciably different from the true age in certain cases, it has been customary to refer to such dates in “radiocarbon years.” Increasingly, however, as calibration data sets have become available, dates in radiocarbon years are being directly converted to calendar years. These dates, obtained from a variety of deposits, form an important framework for Holocene stratigraphy and chronology.
Radiocarbon years are calculated by examining the radioactive decay of carbon-14. This carbon isotope is generated when neutrons produced by collisions between cosmic rays and atoms in the upper atmosphere are captured by nitrogen atoms. Living tissue absorbs small amounts of carbon-14 through respiration and food ingestion. Carbon-14 continues to accumulate in an organism’s tissues until it dies. The carbon-14 then undergoes radioactive decay to become nitrogen, with a half-life of 5,730 years. Using this measure, scientists can estimate the age of a tissue in radiocarbon years from the amount of carbon-14 remaining in the sample.
The limitations of accuracy of radiocarbon age determinations are expressed as ± a few tens or hundreds of years. While many archaeological studies have relied on direct radiocarbon-calendar conversions, studies have shown that uncertainty between radiocarbon and calendar dates could still remain and that direct conversions could be subject to an offset error of 20–50 years. Since this prospect has the potential of impacting historical timelines in several fields, scientists recommend that researchers use other dating techniques, such as tree rings and sediment deposits, to verify radiocarbon-calendar conversions.
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In addition to this calculated error, there also is a question of error due to contamination of the material measured. For instance, an ancient peat may contain some younger roots and thus give a falsely “young” age unless it is carefully collected and treated to remove contaminants. Marine shells consist of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and in certain coastal regions there is upwelling of deep oceanic water that can be 500 to more than 1,000 years old. An “age” from living shells in such an area can suggest that they are already hundreds of years old.
The name Holocene comes from the Greek words ὄλος (holos), which means "whole" or "entire," and καινή (kai-ne), which means "new" or "recent." It has also been called the "Alluvium Epoch." It has been assigned to Marine isotopic stage 1 (MIS 1), which is an interglacial. The next glacial is yet to occur.
Holocene noun. Did you know? To geologists, we live today in the Holocene epoch, the period that began about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, when humans first began practicing agriculture. But what does Holocene have to do with "whole"?
Apr 11, 2019 · Holocene (adj.) in reference to the epoch that began 10,000 years ago and continues today, 1897, from French holocène (1867), from Greek holos "whole" (from PIE root *sol- "whole, well-kept") + -cene .
Origin of name (or etymology) Holocene comes from two Ancient Greek words. The name was suggested by the French palaeontologist and entomologist Paul Gervais (d. 1879);</ref> [1] [2] It is supposed to mean that the the present time is part of the 'entirely new' epoch, or the "Holocene [epoch]".
