Chibanian

The Chibanian, widely known as the Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period.^[4] The Chibanian name was officially ratified in January 2020. It is currently estimated to span the time between 0.770 Ma (770,000 years ago) and 0.126 Ma (126,000 years ago), also expressed as 770–126 ka. It includes the transition in palaeoanthropology from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic over 300 ka.

Chibanian
0.774 – 0.129 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Chronology
−2.6 — – −2.4 — – −2.2 — – −2 — – −1.8 — – −1.6 — – −1.4 — – −1.2 — – −1 — – −0.8 — – −0.6 — – −0.4 — – −0.2 — – 0 — C e n o z o i c N Quaternary PC Pleistocene   Piacenzian Gelasian Calabrian Chibanian "Late"             ← Holocene Subdivision of the Quaternary according to the ICS, as of 2021.^[1]^[2] Vertical axis scale: millions of years ago.
Etymology
Name formality	Formal
Name ratified	January 2020
Synonym(s)	Middle Pleistocene Ionian
Usage information
Celestial body	Earth
Regional usage	Global (ICS)
Time scale(s) used	ICS Time Scale
Definition
Chronological unit	Age
Stratigraphic unit	Stage
Time span formality	Formal
Lower boundary definition	1.1 m below the directional midpoint of the Brunhes-Matuyama magnetic reversal
Lower boundary GSSP	Chiba, Japan 35°17′39″N 140°08′47″E / 35.2943°N 140.1465°E / 35.2943; 140.1465
Lower GSSP ratified	January 2020^[3]
Upper boundary definition	Not formally defined
Upper boundary definition candidates	Marine Isotope Substage 5e
Upper boundary GSSP candidate section(s)	None

The Chibanian is preceded by the Calabrian and succeeded by the proposed Tarantian.^[5] The beginning of the Chibanian is the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, when the Earth's magnetic field last underwent reversal.^[6] It ends with the onset of the Eemian interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5).^[7]

The term Middle Pleistocene was in use as a provisional or "quasi-formal" designation by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). While the three lowest ages of the Pleistocene, the Gelasian, Calabrian and Chibanian have been officially defined, the Late Pleistocene has yet to be formally defined, along with consideration of a proposed Anthropocene sub-division of the Holocene.^[8]

Definition process

The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) had previously proposed replacement of the Middle Pleistocene by an Ionian Age based on strata found in Italy. In November 2017, however, the Chibanian (based on strata at a site in Chiba Prefecture, Japan) replaced the Ionian as the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy's preferred GSSP proposal for the age that should replace the Middle Pleistocene sub-epoch.^[9] The "Chibanian" name was ratified by the IUGS in January 2020.^[4]

Climate

By early Middle Pleistocene, the Mid-Pleistocene Transition had changed the glacial cycles from an average 41,000 year periodicity present during most of the Early Pleistocene to a 100,000 year periodicity,^[10] with the glacial cycles becoming asymmetric, having long glacial periods punctuated by short warm interglacial periods.^[11]

Events

The Early-Middle Pleistocene boundary saw the migration of true horses out of North America and into Eurasia.^[12] Also around this time, the European mammoth species Mammuthus meridionalis became extinct and was replaced by the Asian species Mammuthus trogontherii (the steppe mammoth). This was coincident with the migration of the elephant genus Palaeoloxodon out of Africa and into Eurasia, including the first appearance of species like the European straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus).^[13] With the extinction of Sinomastodon in East Asia at the Early-Middle Pleistocene boundary, gomphotheres became completely extinct in Afro-Eurasia,^[14][15] but continued to persist in the Americas into the Late Pleistocene.^[15] There was a major extinction of carnivorous mammals in Europe around the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition, including the giant hyena Pachycrocuta.^[16] The mid-late Middle Pleistocene saw the emergence of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), and its replacement of Mammuthus trogontherii, with the replacement of M. trogontherii in Europe by woolly mammoths being complete by around 200,000 years ago.^[13][17] The last member of the notoungulate family Mesotheriidae, Mesotherium, has its last records around 220,000 years ago, leaving Toxodontidae as the sole family of notoungulates to persist into the Late Pleistocene.^[18] During the late Middle Pleistocene, around 195,000-135,000 years ago, the steppe bison (the ancestor of the modern American bison) migrated across the Bering land bridge into North America, marking the beginning of the Rancholabrean faunal stage.^[19] Around 500,000 years ago, the last members of the largely European aquatic frog genus Palaeobatrachus and by extension the family Palaeobatrachidae became extinct.^[20]

Palaeoanthropology

The Chibanian includes the transition in palaeoanthropology from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic: i.e., the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens between 300 ka and 400 ka.^[21] The oldest known human DNA dates to the Middle Pleistocene, around 430,000 years ago. This is the oldest found, as of 2016^[update].^[22]

After analyzing 2,496 remains of Castor fiber (Eurasian beaver) and Trogontherium cuvieri found at Bilzingsleben in Germany, a team of scientists concluded that, around 400 ka, hominids in the area hunted and exploited beavers. They may have been targeted for their meat (based on cut marks on the bones) and skin.^[23]

Chronology

Further information: Timeline of glaciation

Further information: Marine isotope stages and Last Glacial Period

Further information: Brunhes–Matuyama reversal

Age	paleoclimate	glaciation	palaeoanthropology
790–761 ka	MIS 19	Günz (Elbe) glaciation	Peking Man (Homo erectus)
761–712 ka	MIS 18
712–676 ka	MIS 17
676–621 ka	MIS 16
621–563 ka	MIS 15	Gunz-Haslach interglacial	Heidelberg Man (Homo heidelbergensis), Bodo cranium
563–524 ka	MIS 14
524–474 ka	MIS 13	end of Cromerian (Günz-Mindel) interglacial	Boxgrove Man (Homo heidelbergensis)
474–424 ka	MIS 12	Anglian Stage in Britain; Haslach glaciation	Tautavel Man (Homo erectus)
424–374 ka	MIS 11	Hoxnian (Britain), Yarmouthian (North America)	Swanscombe Man (Homo heidelbergensis)
374–337 ka	MIS 10	Mindel glaciation, Elster glaciation, Riss glaciation
337–300 ka	MIS 9	Purfleet Interglacial in Britain	Mousterian
300–243 ka	MIS 8		Irhoud 1 (Homo sapiens); Middle Paleolithic; Haplogroup A (Y-DNA)
243–191 ka	MIS 7	Aveley Interglacial in Britain	Galilee Man; Haua Fteah
191–130 ka	MIS 6	Illinoian Stage	Herto Man (Homo sapiens); Macro-haplogroup L (mtDNA); Mousterian
130–123 ka	MIS 5e	peak of Eemian interglacial sub-stage, or Ipswichian in Britain	Klasies River Caves; Sangoan

See also

• Mid-Pleistocene Transition
• 100,000-year problem
• Pleistocene megafauna

References

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2. Mike Walker; et al. (December 2018). "Formal ratification of the subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Period)" (PDF). Episodes. Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS). 41 (4): 213–223. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2018/018016. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
3. "Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point". International Commission of Stratigraphy. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
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5. 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.
6. Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.; Smith, Alan G., eds. (2004). A Geological Time Scale 2004 (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780521786737.
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20. Wuttke, Michael; Přikryl, Tomáš; Ratnikov, Viacheslav Yu.; Dvořák, Zdeněk; Roček, Zbyněk (September 2012). "Generic diversity and distributional dynamics of the Palaeobatrachidae (Amphibia: Anura)". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 92 (3): 367–395. doi:10.1007/s12549-012-0071-y. ISSN 1867-1594.
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23. Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Sabine; Kindler, Lutz; Roebroeks, Wil (2023-11-13). "Beaver exploitation, 400,000 years ago, testifies to prey choice diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominins". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 19766. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-46956-6. hdl:1887/3674398. ISSN 2045-2322.