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Piacenzian
The Piacenzian is in the international geologic
time scale the upper stage or latest age of the Piacenzian
Pliocene. It spans the time between 3.6 ± 0.005
Chronology
Ma and 2.588 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago).
The Piacenzian is after the Zanclean and is P Gelasian
−2 — QC
followed by the Gelasian (part of the  
–
Pleistocene). P Piacenzian
−4 — l
i
o. Zanclean
The Piacenzian is roughly coeval with the –
 
European land mammal age MN 16, overlaps −6 — Messinian
← Messinian salinity crisis[1]
the late Chapadmalalan and early Uquian South – ← North American prairie
expands[2]
American land mammal age and falls inside the −8 —
more extensive Blancan North American land –
Tortonian
mammal age. It also correlates with the Astian, −10 — C
N
Redonian, Reuverian and Romanian regional –e e
n
stages of Europe, and the Waipipian and −12 — o M
o
Mangapanian stages of New Zealand. Some – z g i Serravallian 
o
authorities describe the British Red Crag −14 — o e c
n
Formation and Waltonian Stage as late –i e Langhian
en
Piacenzian,[6][7] while others regard them as −16 — c
e
early Pleistocene.[8][9] –
−18 — Burdigalian
Carbon dioxide levels during the Piacenzian –
were similar to those of today, making this age, −20 —
with global mean temperature 2–3 °C higher –
and sea levels about twenty meters higher than −22 — Aquitanian
today, an important analogue for predictions of –  
P O Chattian
the future of our world.[10] −24 — gC

Subdivision of the Neogene according to

Definition the ICS, as of 2021.[3]
Vertical axis: millions of years ago.
The Piacenzian was introduced in scientific
Formerly part of Tertiary Period/System
literature by Swiss stratigrapher Karl Mayer-
Eymar in 1858. It is named after the Italian city Etymology
of Piacenza. Name formality Formal

The base of the Piacenzian is at the base of Usage information

magnetic chronozone C2An (the base of the Celestial body Earth
Gauss chronozone and at the extinction of the
Regional usage Global (ICS)
planktonic forams Globorotalia margaritae and
Pulleniatina primalis. The GSSP for the Time scale(s) used ICS Time Scale
Piacenzian Stage is at Punta Piccola on Sicily, Definition
Italy.[11]
Chronological unit Age
The top of the Piacenzian (the base of the Stratigraphic unit Stage
Quaternary System and the Pleistocene Series)
Time span formality Formal
is defined magnetostratigraphically as the base
of the Matuyama (C2r) chronozone (at the

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Gauss-Matuyama reversal), and isotopic stage Lower boundary Base of Gauss/Gilbert

103. Above this point there are notable definition (C2An/C2Ar) magnetic
extinctions of the calcareous nanofossils: reversal
Discoaster pentaradiatus and Discoaster
Lower boundary Punta Piccola Section, Porto
surculus.[12]
GSSP Empedocle, Sicily, Italy
37.2889°N 13.4933°E
Climate
Lower GSSP ratified January 1997[4]
The Piacenzian was the last age before the Upper boundary
Base of magnetic
Quaternary glaciations started to take hold in definition
polarity chronozone C2r
the Northern hemisphere. The ice sheet of
Antarctica was also less prominent than today (Matuyama)
and sea levels were approximately twenty Extinction of the
meters higher than the present. The global Haptophytes Discoaster
mean temperature was 2–3 °C warmer than the pentaradiatus and
pre-industrial temperature. During the Mid- Discoaster surculus
Piacenzian Warm Period the concentration of
carbon dioxide peaked at approximately 389 Upper boundary Monte San Nicola Section,
ppm (in the range 381–427 ppm with 95% GSSP Gela, Sicily, Italy
confidence), thus similar to the concentration 37.1469°N 14.2035°E
during the 2010s. The Piacenzian can therefore Upper GSSP ratified 1996 (as base of
be used as an analogue to the future climate and
Gelasian)[5]
sea level to expect if the carbon dioxide
concentration stabilizes at this level. In
particular, the KM5c interglacial during the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period occurred during an
orbital configuration close to the current situation, with similar geographical distribution of solar
insolation.[10]

Climate of the Piacenzian would have started as a somewhat wet and warm period in North
America occurring just after a brief cooling period of the Zanclean. Deposition of sediments and
mollusks of the Piacenzian correspond with the rise in sea level creating the Tamiami Subsea and
Jackson Subsea of Florida, Duplin Subsea generally of South Carolina, and Yorktown Subsea of the
Outer Banks and inland North Carolina. Dates have been established on the basis of the genera and
species of mollusks found.[13]

Origin of the genus Homo

The late Piacenzian may be when the genus Homo developed out of the ancestral genus
Australopithecus.[14] While the oldest known fossils unambiguously identified as Homo habilis
date to just after the end of the Piacenzian (2.58 Ma), a fossilized jawbone that exhibits traits that
are transitional between Australopithecus and Homo habilis was discovered in the Afar Triangle in
2015. The find was made by Ethiopian student Chalachew Seyoum at a site called Ledi-Geraru
between the Mille and Awash rivers, in Afar Regional State (near 11.36°N 40.86°E).[15][16] Based
on geological evidence from the Afar region, the individual would have lived just after a major
climate shift, during which forests and waterways were rapidly replaced by arid savanna.
Regarding the Afar region, and as stated in the journal Science: "Vertebrate fossils record a faunal
turnover indicative of more open and probable arid habitats than those reconstructed earlier in
this region, in broad agreement with hypotheses addressing the role of environmental forcing in

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hominin evolution at this time." This interpretation is consistent with hypotheses that emphasize
the savanna as the ancestral environment that shaped the evolution of early Homo and other
hominins.[17]

References

Notes
1. Krijgsman, W.; Garcés, M.; Langereis, C. G.; Daams, R.; Van Dam, J.; Van Der Meulen, A. J.;
Agustí, J.; Cabrera, L. (1996). "A new chronology for the middle to late Miocene continental
record in Spain". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 142 (3–4): 367–380.
Bibcode:1996E&PSL.142..367K (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996E&PSL.142..367K).
doi:10.1016/0012-821X(96)00109-4 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0012-821X%2896%2900109-
4).
2. Retallack, G. J. (1997). "Neogene Expansion of the North American Prairie" (http://palaios.sep
monline.org/content/12/4/380). PALAIOS. 12 (4): 380–390. doi:10.2307/3515337 (https://doi.or
g/10.2307%2F3515337). JSTOR 3515337 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3515337). Retrieved
2008-02-11.
3. "ICS Timescale Chart" (https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2020-03.pdf) (PDF).
www.stratigraphy.org.
4. Castradori, D.; D. Rio; F. J. Hilgen; L. J. Lourens (1998). "The Global Standard Stratotype-
section and Point (GSSP) of the Piacenzian Stage (Middle Pliocene)" (https://stratigraphy.org/g
ssps/files/piacenzian.pdf) (PDF). Episodes. 21 (2): 88–93.
doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1998/v21i2/003 (https://doi.org/10.18814%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i
2%2F003). Retrieved 26 December 2020.
5. Rio, Domenico; R. Sprovieri; D. Castradori; E. Di Stefano (1998). "The Gelasian Stage (Upper
Pliocene): A new unit of the global standard chronostratigraphic scale" (https://doi.org/10.1881
4%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i2%2F002). Episodes. 21 (2): 82–87.
doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1998/v21i2/002 (https://doi.org/10.18814%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i
2%2F002).
6. "Red Crag Formation" (http://www.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=RCG). British Geological
Survey. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
7. "Global Chronostratigraphical Correlation Table for the Last 2.7 Million Years. v.2011" (http://qu
aternary.stratigraphy.org/correlation/POSTERSTRAT_v2011.pdf.20110222-162627). University
of Cambridge. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
8. "The Naze citation" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042218/http://www.sssi.naturalengla
nd.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1004220.pdf) (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Natural England. Archived from the original (http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citati
on_photo/1004220.pdf) (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
9. Allaby, Michael (2013). Oxford Dictionary of Geology & Earth Sciences (4th ed.). Oxford
University Press. p. 626. ISBN 978-0-19-96530 6-5.
10. de la Vega, E.; Chalk, T. B.; Wilson, P. A.; Bysani, R. P.; Foster, G. L. (2020). "Atmospheric
CO2 during the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period and the M2 glaciation" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/pmc/articles/PMC7347535). Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 11002.
Bibcode:2020NatSR..1011002D (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020NatSR..1011002D).
doi:10.1038/s41598-020-67154-8 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41598-020-67154-8).
PMC 7347535 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7347535). PMID 32647351 (http
s://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32647351).
11. Castradori et al. (1998)
12. Gadstein et al. (2005), p. 28; Rio et al. (1998)

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13. Petuch, Edward J., Ph.D. Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geodsciences. Cenozoic
Seas: The View From Eastern North America. CRC Press, Dec. 29, 2003. ISBN 0-8493-1632-
4.
14. Pallab Ghosh (4 March 2015). " 'First human' discovered in Ethiopia" (https://www.bbc.com/ne
ws/science-environment-31718336). BBC. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
15. "Oldest known member of human family found in Ethiopia" (https://www.newscientist.com/articl
e/dn27079-oldest-known-member-of-human-family-found-in-ethiopia.html#.VPrw7vmsXId).
New Scientist. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
16. Ghosh, Pallab (4 March 2015). " 'First human' discovered in Ethiopia" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/n
ews/science-environment-31718336). bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
17. Erin N. DiMaggio EN; Campisano CJ; Rowan J; Dupont-Nivet G; Deino AL; et al. (2015). "Late
Pliocene fossiliferous sedimentary record and the environmental context of early Homo from
Afar, Ethiopia" (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.aaa1415). Science. 347 (6228): 1355–9.
Bibcode:2015Sci...347.1355D (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Sci...347.1355D).
doi:10.1126/science.aaa1415 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.aaa1415). PMID 25739409
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25739409).

Literature
Castradori, D.; Rio, D.; Hilgen, F. J.; Lourens, L. J. (1998). "The Global Standard Stratotype-
section and Point (GSSP) of the Piacenzian Stage (Middle Pliocene)" (https://doi.org/10.1881
4%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i2%2F003). Episodes. 21 (2): 88–93.
doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1998/v21i2/003 (https://doi.org/10.18814%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i
2%2F003).
Gradstein, F. M.; Ogg, J. G.; Smith, A. G., eds. (2005). A Geologic Time Scale 2004.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511536045 (https://doi.or
g/10.1017%2FCBO9780511536045). ISBN 0-521-78142-6.
Rio, D.; Sprovieri, R.; Castradori, D.; Stefano, E. Di (1998). "The Gelasian Stage (Upper
Pliocene): A new unit of the global standard chronostratigraphic scale" (https://doi.org/10.1881
4%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i2%2F002). Episodes. 21 (2): 82–87.
doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1998/v21i2/002 (https://doi.org/10.18814%2Fepiiugs%2F1998%2Fv21i
2%2F002).
Thompson, R. S.; Fleming, R. F. (1996). "Middle Pliocene vegetation: reconstructions,
paleoclimatic inferences, and boundary conditions for climate modeling". Marine
Micropaleontology. 27 (1–4): 27–49. Bibcode:1996MarMP..27...27T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.
edu/abs/1996MarMP..27...27T). doi:10.1016/0377-8398(95)00051-8 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2
F0377-8398%2895%2900051-8).

External links
Piacenzian (http://www.stratigraphy.org/bak/geowhen/stages/Piacenzian.html) at the GeoWhen
database
Neogene timescale (http://stratigraphy.science.purdue.edu/charts/Timeslices/1_Neogene.pdf),
at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS
Neogene timescale (https://web.archive.org/web/20060518100615/http://norges.uio.no/timesca
le/F5a_Neo1.pdf) at the website of the Norwegian network of offshore records of geology and
stratigraphy
Piacenzian Microfossils: images of Piacenzian Foraminifera (http://www.foraminifera.eu/queryd
b.php?stage=Piacenzian&aktion=suche)

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