Welcome to the Meghalayan Age, the Latest Stage in Earth’s 4.54-Billion-Year History

Geologists say the stage began 4,200 years ago, when a global mega-drought devastated agricultural societies

The Meghalayan Age’s “timestamp” is an isotopic shift found in a single stalagmite growing from the floor of the Mawmluh Cave in Meghalaya, India (ICS)

By Meilan Solly

smithsonian.com 

4,200 years ago, a sweeping mega-drought devastated agricultural societies across the globe, wiping out civilizations from Ancient Egypt to Mesopotamia, Palestine and the Yangtze River Valley. Now, scientists say the cataclysmic event marks the beginning of a new geologic age: the Late Holocene Meghalayan, which encompasses everything from the start of the drought to the present.

Geologists divide the planet’s 4.54-billion-year history into a series of smaller subdivisions, Laura Geggel writes for Live Science. Earth is currently situated in the Phanerozoic Eon, Cenozoic Era, Quaternary Period, Holocene Epoch and Meghalayan Age…