List of periods and events in climate history
Encyclopedia
Knowledge of precise climatic events decreases as the record goes further back in time. Some notable climate events known to Paleoclimatology
are listed here. The Timeline of glaciation
covers ice age
s specifically, which tend to have their own names for phases, often with different names used for different parts of the world. The names for earlier periods and events come from geology
and paleontology
. The Marine isotope stage
s (MIS) are often used to express dating within the Quaternary
.
Scale: Millions of years before present
, earlier dates approximate.
sequence, originally based on studies of Danish peat bogs.
sequence, originally based on studies of Danish peat bogs.
Paleoclimatology
Paleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses a variety of proxy methods from the Earth and life sciences to obtain data previously preserved within rocks, sediments, ice sheets, tree rings, corals, shells and microfossils; it then...
are listed here. The Timeline of glaciation
Timeline of glaciation
There have been five known ice ages in the Earth's history, with the Earth experiencing the Quaternary Ice Age during the present time. Within ice ages, there exist periods of more severe glacial conditions and more temperate referred to as glacial periods and interglacial periods, respectively...
covers ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s specifically, which tend to have their own names for phases, often with different names used for different parts of the world. The names for earlier periods and events come from geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
. The Marine isotope stage
Marine isotope stage
Marine isotope stages , marine oxygen-isotope stages, or oxygen isotope stages , are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earth's paleoclimate, deduced from oxygen isotope data reflecting changes in temperature derived from data from deep sea core samples...
s (MIS) are often used to express dating within the Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
.
Start to Quaternary period
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
, earlier dates approximate.
- Before 1,000 Mya Faint young Sun paradoxFaint young Sun paradoxThe faint young Sun paradox or problem describes the apparent contradiction between observations of liquid water early in the Earth's history and the astrophysical expectation that the Sun's output would be only 70% as intense during that epoch as it is during the modern epoch. The issue was raised...
- 2,400 Mya Great Oxygenation EventGreat Oxygenation EventThe Great Oxygenation Event , also called the Oxygen Catastrophe or Oxygen Crisis or Great Oxidation, was the biologically induced appearance of free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. This major environmental change happened around 2.4 billion years ago.Photosynthesis was producing oxygen both before...
probably leads to Huronian glaciation perhaps covering the whole globe - 650 - 600 Mya Later Neoproterozoic Snowball EarthSnowball EarthThe Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that the Earth's surface became entirely or nearly entirely frozen at least once, some time earlier than 650 Ma . Proponents of the hypothesis argue that it best explains sedimentary deposits generally regarded as of glacial origin at tropical...
or Marinoan glaciationMarinoan glaciationThe Marinoan glaciation was a period of worldwide glaciation that lasted from approximately 650 to 635 Ma during the Cryogenian period. The glaciation may have covered the entire planet, in an event called the Snowball Earth...
, precursor to the Cambrian ExplosionCambrian explosionThe Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance, around , of most major phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of other organisms, including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes... - 450 - 440 Mya Ordovician–Silurian extinction event, in two bursts, after cooling perhaps caused by tectonic plate movement
- 450 Mya Andean-Saharan glaciation
- 400 - 375 Mya Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, causes unclear, associated with fall in CO2
- 360-260 Mya Karoo Ice AgeKaroo Ice AgeThe Karoo Ice Age from 360–260 Ma was the second major ice age of the Phanerozoic Eon. It is named after the glacial tills found in the Karoo region of South Africa where evidence for this ice age was first clearly identified....
- 305 Mya cooler climate causes Carboniferous Rainforest CollapseCarboniferous Rainforest CollapseThe Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse was an extinction event that occurred around 305 million years ago in the Carboniferous period). Vast coal forests covered the equatorial region of Euramerica...
- 251.4 Mya Permian-Triassic extinction eventPermian-Triassic extinction eventThe Permian–Triassic extinction event, informally known as the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred 252.28 Ma ago, forming the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, as well as the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras...
- 199.6 Mya Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, causes as yet unclear
- 66 Mya, perhaps 30,000 years of volcanic activity form the Deccan TrapsDeccan TrapsThe Deccan Traps are a large igneous province located on the Deccan Plateau of west-central India and one of the largest volcanic features on Earth. They consist of multiple layers of solidified flood basalt that together are more than thick and cover an area of and a volume of...
in India - 65.5 Mya K–T boundaryK–T boundaryThe K–T boundary is a geological signature, usually a thin band, dated to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma ago. K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous period, and T is the abbreviation for the Tertiary period...
and Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, extinction of dinosaurs - 55.8 Mya Paleocene-Eocene Thermal MaximumPaleocene-Eocene Thermal MaximumThe most extreme change in Earth surface conditions during the Cenozoic Era began at the temporal boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs . This event, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum , was associated with rapid global...
- 53.7 Mya Eocene Thermal Maximum 2Eocene Thermal Maximum 2Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 , also called H-1 or the Elmo event, was a transient period of global warming that occurred approximately 53.7 million years ago...
- 49 Mya Azolla eventAzolla eventThe Azolla event occurred in the middle Eocene period, around , when blooms of the freshwater fern Azolla are thought to have happened in the Arctic Ocean...
may have ended a long warm period - 5.3 - 2.6 Mya Pliocene climatePliocene climateDuring the Pliocene epoch climate became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates.The global average temperature in the mid-Pliocene was 2–3°C higher than today, global sea level 25m higher and Northern hemisphere ice sheet ephemeral before the onset of extensive glaciation...
climate became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. - 2.5 Mya to present Quaternary glaciationQuaternary glaciationQuaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, the current ice age or simply the ice age, refers to the period of the last few million years in which permanent ice sheets were established in Antarctica and perhaps Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets have occurred elsewhere...
, with permanent ice on the polar regions, many named stages in different parts of the world
Pleistocene
All dates are approximate. "(B-S)" means this is one of the periods from the Blytt-SernanderBlytt-Sernander
The Blytt-Sernander classification, or sequence, is a series of north European climatic periods or phases based on the study of Danish peat bogs by Axel Blytt and Rutger Sernander...
sequence, originally based on studies of Danish peat bogs.
- 120,000 - 90,000 BP Abbassia PluvialAbbassia PluvialThe Abbassia Pluvial was an extended wet and rainy period in the climate history of North Africa. It began c. 120,000 years before the present , lasted approximately 30,000 years, and ended c. 90,000 ybp...
wet in North Africa - 110,000 - 10,000 BP Last glacial period, not to be confused with the Last Glacial Maximum or Late Glacial Maximum below
- 50,000 - 30,000 BP Mousterian PluvialMousterian PluvialThe Mousterian Pluvial was an extended wet and rainy period in the climate history of North Africa. It occurred during the Upper Paleolithic era, beginning around 50,000 years before the present , lasting 20,000 years, and ending around 30,000 ybp .During the Mousterian Pluvial, the now-desiccated...
wet in North Africa - 26,500 - 19,000–20,000 BP Last Glacial MaximumLast Glacial MaximumThe Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
, what is often meant in popular usage by "Last Ice Age" - 16,000 - 13,000 BC Oldest DryasOldest DryasThe Oldest Dryas was a climatic period, which occurred during the coldest stadial after the Weichselian glaciation in north Europe. In the Alps, the Oldest Dryas corresponds to the Gschnitz stadial of the Würm glaciation. The three “Dryas” periods are named for a marker species, Dryas octopetala,...
cold, begins slowly and ends sharply (B-S) - 12,700 BC Antarctic Cold ReversalAntarctic Cold ReversalThe Antarctic Cold Reversal was an important episode of cooling in the climate history of the Earth, during the deglaciation at the close of the last ice age. It illustrates the complexity of the climate changes at the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene Epoch.The Last Glacial Maximum...
warmer Antarctic, sea levels rise - 12,400 BC Bølling oscillationBølling OscillationThe Bølling oscillation was a warm interstadial period between the Oldest Dryas and Older Dryas stadials, at the end of the last glacial period. It is named after a peat sequence discovered at Bølling lake, central Jutland...
warm and wet in the North Atlantic, begins the Bølling-AllerødBølling-AllerødThe Bølling-Allerød interstadial was a warm and moist interstadial period that occurred during the final stages of the last glacial period. This warm period ran from c. 14,700 to 12,700 years before the present...
period (B-S) - 12,400 - 11,500 BC (much discussed) Older DryasOlder DryasThe Older Dryas was a stadial period between the Bølling and Allerød oscillations during the Pleistocene glacial period of ~11,700—12,000 uncalibrated years ago...
cold, interrupts warm period for some centuries (B-S) - 12,000 - 11,000 BC Allerød oscillationAllerød OscillationThe Allerød period was a warm and moist global interstadial that occurred at the end of the last glacial period. The Allerød oscillation raised temperatures , before they declined again in the succeeding Younger Dryas period, which was followed by the present interglacial period.In some regions,...
warm & moist (B-S) - 11,400 - 9,500 BC Huelmo/Mascardi Cold ReversalHuelmo/Mascardi Cold ReversalThe Huelmo/Mascardi Cold Reversal is the name given to a cooling event in South America between 11,400 and 10,200 14C years BP. This cooling began about 550 years before the Younger Dryas cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, and both periods ended at about the same time.The event was given its...
cold in Southern HemisphereSouthern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"... - 11,000-8,000 BC Late Glacial Maximum, or Tardiglacial (definitions vary)
- 10,800 - 9,500 BC Younger DryasYounger DryasThe Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief period of cold climatic conditions and drought between approximately 12.8 and 11.5 ka BP, or 12,800 and 11,500 years before present...
sudden cold and dry period in Northern HemisphereNorthern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
(B-S)
- 50,000 - 30,000 BP Mousterian Pluvial
Holocene
All dates are BC (BCE) and approximate. "(B-S)" means this is one of the periods from the Blytt-SernanderBlytt-Sernander
The Blytt-Sernander classification, or sequence, is a series of north European climatic periods or phases based on the study of Danish peat bogs by Axel Blytt and Rutger Sernander...
sequence, originally based on studies of Danish peat bogs.
- from 10,000 Holocene glacial retreatHolocene glacial retreatHolocene glacial retreat had a profound effect on landscapes in many areas that were covered by ice at the Last Glacial Maximum. The many valleys of the Cairngorms, a mountainous region in the Eastern Scottish Highlands are littered with deposits from this period.-Evidences of the retreat of the...
, the present HoloceneHoloceneThe Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
or Postglacial period begins - 9,400 BC Pre-Boreal sharp rise in temperature over 50 years (B-S), precedes Boreal
- 8,500 - 6,900 BC BorealBoreal (period)In paleoclimatology of the Holocene, the Boreal was the first of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of north European climatic phases that were originally based on the study of Danish peat bogs, named for Axel Blytt and Rutger Sernander, who first established the sequence. In peat bog sediments, the...
(B-S), rising sea levels, forest replaces tundra in northern Europe - 7,500 - 3,900 Neolithic SubpluvialNeolithic SubpluvialThe Neolithic Subpluvial — sometimes called the Holocene Wet Phase — was an extended period of wet and rainy conditions in the climate history of northern Africa...
in North Africa, wet - 7,000 - 3,000 BC Holocene climatic optimumHolocene climatic optimumThe Holocene Climate Optimum was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years B.P.. This event has also been known by many other names, including: Hypsithermal, Altithermal, Climatic Optimum, Holocene Optimum, Holocene Thermal Maximum, and Holocene Megathermal.This warm period...
, or AtlanticAtlantic (period)The Atlantic in palaeoclimatology was the warmest and moistest Blytt-Sernander period, pollen zone and chronozone of Holocene northern Europe. The climate was generally warmer than today. It was preceded by the Boreal, with a climate similar to today’s, and was followed by the Sub-Boreal, a...
in northern Europe (B-S) - 6,200 BC 8.2 kiloyear event8.2 kiloyear eventThe 8.2 kiloyear event is the term that climatologists have adopted for a sudden decrease in global temperatures that occurred approximately 8,200 years before the present, or c. 6,200 BCE, and which lasted for the next two to four centuries...
cold - 5,000 - 4,100 BC Older PeronOlder PeronThe Older Peron transgression was a period of unusually warm climate during the Holocene Epoch. It began in the 5000 BCE to 4900 BCE era, and lasted to about 4100 BCE...
warm and wet, global sea levels were 2.5 to 4 meters (8 to 13 feet) higher than the twentieth-century average - 3,900 BC 5.9 kiloyear event5.9 kiloyear eventThe 5.9 kiloyear event was one of the most intense aridification events during the Holocene. It occurred around 3900 BC, ending the Neolithic Subpluvial and probably initiated the most recent desiccation of the Sahara desert. Thus, it also triggered worldwide migration to river valleys, e.g...
dry and cold, ends Neolithic Subpluvial in North Africa - 3,200 - 2,900 Piora OscillationPiora OscillationThe Piora Oscillation was an abrupt cold and wet period in the climate history of the Holocene Epoch; it is generally dated to the period of c. 3200 to 2900 BCE...
, cold, perhaps not global. Wetter in Europe, drier elsewhere - 2,200 BC 4.2 kiloyear event4.2 kiloyear eventThe 4.2 kiloyear BP aridification event was one of the most severe climatic events of the Holocene period in terms of impact on cultural upheaval. Starting in ≈2200 BC, it probably lasted the entire 22nd century BC. It is very likely to have caused the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt as...
dry - 1800-1500 BC Middle Bronze Age Cold EpochMiddle Bronze Age Cold EpochThe Middle Bronze Age Cold Epoch was a period of unusually cold climate in the North Atlantic region, lasting from about 1800 BC to about 1500 BC. It was followed by the Bronze Age Optimum....
- 900 - 300 BC Iron Age Cold EpochIron Age Cold EpochThe Iron Age Cold Epoch was a period of unusually cold climate in the North Atlantic region, lasting from about 900 BC to about 300 BC, with an especially cold wave in 450 BC during the expansion of ancient Greece. It was followed by the Roman Warm Period ....
cold in North Atlantic - 250 BC - 400 AD Roman Warm PeriodRoman Warm PeriodThe Roman Warm Period has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to 400 AD....
Common Era/AD
- 250 BC - 400 AD Roman Warm PeriodRoman Warm PeriodThe Roman Warm Period has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to 400 AD....
- Climate changes of 535-536 (535-536 AD), sudden cooling and failure of harvests, perhaps caused by volcanic dust
- 900 - 1300 Medieval warm periodMedieval Warm PeriodThe Medieval Warm Period , Medieval Climate Optimum, or Medieval Climatic Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region, that may also have been related to other climate events around the world during that time, including in China, New Zealand, and other countries lasting from...
, wet in Europe, arid in North America - Great Famine of 1315–1317Great Famine of 1315–1317The Great Famine of 1315–1317 was the first of a series of large scale crises that struck Northern Europe early in the fourteenth century...
- Various dates between 1250 and 1550 or later are held to mark the start of the Little ice ageLittle Ice AgeThe Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939...
, ending at equally varied dates mostly after 1850, or still in progress.- 1460 - 1550 Spörer MinimumSpörer MinimumThe Spörer Minimum was a 90-year span of low solar activity, from about 1460 until 1550, which was identified and named by John A. Eddy in a landmark 1976 paper published in Science titled "The Maunder Minimum"...
cold - 1656-1715 Maunder MinimumMaunder MinimumThe Maunder Minimum is the name used for the period roughly spanning 1645 to 1715 when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time....
low sunspot activity - 1790 - 1830 Dalton MinimumDalton MinimumThe Dalton Minimum was a period of low solar activity, named after the English meteorologist John Dalton, lasting from about 1790 to 1830. Like the Maunder Minimum and Spörer Minimum, the Dalton Minimum coincided with a period of lower-than-average global temperatures...
low sunspot activity, cold - Year Without a SummerYear Without a SummerThe Year Without a Summer was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities caused average global temperatures to decrease by about 0.4–0.7 °C , resulting in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere...
(1816), caused by volcanic dust
- 1460 - 1550 Spörer Minimum
- 1850 - present Retreat of glaciers since 1850Retreat of glaciers since 1850The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and in the longer term, the level of the oceans...
- present and recent past Global warmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, perhaps to be named the AnthropoceneAnthropoceneThe Anthropocene is a recent and informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems...
period.