Examining the case for the use of the Tertiary as a formal period or informal unit

Knox, Robert O.’B; Pearson, Paul Nicholas; Barry, T. L.; Condon, Daniel J.; Cope, John C. W.; Gale, Andy; Gibbard, P.L.; Kerr, Andrew C.; Hounslow, Mark W.; Powell, J. H.; Rawson, Peter F.; Smith, A.; Waters, Colin N.; Zalasiewicz, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2012.05.004

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…As a postscript, it should also be noted that the Tertiary remains an unresolved issue, with proponents recommending that it be reinstated as a period/system beneath and contiguous with the Quaternary (Salvador, 1994(Salvador, , 2006aWalsh, 2006Walsh, , 2008Head et al, 2008a,b;Knox et al, 2012;Fig. 3e).…”

Section: A Fresh Start With Ics Under New Management: 2008e2009mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Formal subdivision of the Quaternary System/Period: Past, present, and future

Head

Gibbard

2015

Quaternary International

108

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Section: A Fresh Start With Ics Under New Management: 2008e2009mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It must be remembered that, unlike the Quaternary controversy, there is no dedicated subcommission within ICS to lobby for the Tertiary: the initiative will need to come from outside, such as from a consortium of national geological societies and agencies (e.g. Knox et al, 2012).…”

Section: A Fresh Start With Ics Under New Management: 2008e2009mentioning

confidence: 99%

Formal subdivision of the Quaternary System/Period: Past, present, and future

Head

Gibbard

2015

Quaternary International

108

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“…Although Arduino's four-order terminology has effectively been replaced in modern geology by the familiar Greek-language terms, the Primary or Primaeval rocks being effectively Precambrian, and latterly Palaeozoic (proposed by Sedgwick 1838), the Secondary rocks being essentially Mesozoic, and the Third order rocks being of Caenozoic age (Phillips 1840;Rudwick 2005), the Latin-based terms Primary and Secondary are still in occasional use to this day. Moreover, despite concerted attempts in some quarters to suppress them, even in the last few decades, the terms Quaternary, and to a lesser extent Tertiary, have refused to be replaced, remaining in current usage in many situations (Head, Gibbard & Salvador 2009;Knox et al 2012;Gibbard et al 2009).…”

Section: The Term Quaternary -Developments After Arduinomentioning

confidence: 99%

Giovanni Arduino - the man who invented the Quaternary

Gibbard

2019

Quaternary International

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A flowering of research into the natural environment and particularly geology took place in Italy in the eighteenth century. New concepts of the composition and formation of mountains and the structure of the Earth arose from regional field investigation of the lithology and palaeontology of the rocks, geomorphology and their relative position. Classification of mountains and the rocks from which they were formed developed rapidly following the critical insights into basic geological foundation principles by the Florentine scientist N. Steno.From this classification, a broad system of stratigraphical sequence gradually emerged in the form of a relative chronology based on the position and relative properties of the rocks. This led to the proposal of the terms "primary" (or "primitive"), "secondary," and "tertiary" to describe the nature of mountains and in addition the terms began to be used as stratigraphic units. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the mining engineer and field geologist Giovanni Arduino, following two decades of fieldwork in the Venetian and Tuscan mountains, made a remarkable contribution when he proposed a classification of mountain and rocks in northern Italy. His scheme divided the mountains and rocks into four basic units or "ordini" which were based on lithology, position and internal structure, yet excluded fossil evidence. The three orders of mountains and a fourth of the plains, were respectively: "Primary" (underlain by "Primitive or Primaeval" schist considered to be the earliest rocks), "Secondary" and "Tertiary". His youngest division, the "Fourth Order" or "quarto ordine" comprised alluvial and estuarine deposits that underlie river valleys or plains. His recognition of the "Fourth Order" was the first time that deposits representing the Quaternary had been identified and defined as a discrete sequence.In this way, Arduino's classification system of divisions laid the foundations of modern stratigraphy.

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