The Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate is a triangular tectonic block of the North American Plate containing the Queen Elizabeth Islands of Northern Canada . It is surrounded on the south and southwest by the Parry Rift Valley, on the east by the Nares Rift Valley and on the north and west by the Kaltag Fault, which form part of the Canadian Arctic Rift System .
15-608: The Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate formed in the mid- Tertiary during the final stages of the Eurekan Rifting Episode when a large triangular region became severed from the rest of the North American continent. It consists of a number of smaller subplates that are separated by faults . The faults controlled the shapes of the subplates which in turn determined the shapes of the present day islands. This Canadian Northwest Territories location article
30-761: A fourth period, the Quaternary , was applied. In the early development of the study of geology, the periods were thought by scriptural geologists to correspond to the Biblical narrative, the rocks of the Tertiary being thought to be associated with the Great Flood . In 1833, Charles Lyell incorporated a Tertiary Period into his own, far more detailed system of classification, based on fossil mollusks he collected in Italy and Sicily in 1828-1829. He subdivided
45-772: A global scale. It is the largest subordinate body of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The ICS is essentially a permanent working subcommittee , which meets far more regularly than the quadrennial meetings scheduled by the IUGS, when it meets as a congress or membership of the whole . One of its main aims, a project begun in 1974, is to establish a multidisciplinary standard and global geologic time scale that will ease paleontological and geobiological comparisons region to region by benchmarks with stringent and rigorous strata criteria called Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Points (GSSPs) within
60-495: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Nunavut location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This tectonics article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tertiary Tertiary ( / ˈ t ɜːr . ʃ ə . r i , ˈ t ɜː r . ʃ i ˌ ɛr . i / TUR -shə-ree, TUR -shee-err-ee ) is an obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with
75-644: The International Stratigraphic Chart , a combined working proposal and guideline-to-date released after the last ICS deliberations prior to the upcoming (next) meeting of the IUGS. Until the IUGS accepts the recommendations, they are unofficial since the IUGS parent approves or dismisses the individual deliberation reports of the ICS, which are presented as recommendations, and span dating and strata selection criteria, and related issues including nomenclatures. In de facto everyday matters,
90-929: The Mesozoic Era and the Quaternary Period , although it is no longer recognized as a formal unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy . The span of the Tertiary is subdivided into the Paleocene (66–56 million years BP ), the Eocene (56–33.9 million years BP), the Oligocene (33–23.9 million years BP), the Miocene (23–5.3 million years BP) and the Pliocene (5.3–2.6 million years BP), extending to
105-817: The Neogene System and Neogene Period. Despite the strong debate, the Quaternary saw official ratification as a geological unit from the IUGS in June 2009, placing its lower boundary to the Gelasian Stage/Age at Monte San Nicola, Sicily, Italy (until then uppermost part of the Pliocene Series/Epoch, and thus of the Neogene System/Period), 2.58 Ma BP . In addition to publishing paper and document (PDF) versions of
120-556: The paleontology , geology , geobiology and chronostratigraphy fields, among others. The International Commission on Stratigraphy has spawned numerous subcommittee level organizations organized and mobilized on a local country-wide or regional basis that are the true working committees of the IUGS, and these do the field work, basis comparisons in conference or co-ordination research committee meetings of local or wide-scale scope. The ICS publishes various reports and findings as well as revised references periodically, summarized in
135-686: The Early Tertiary and the Late Tertiary, respectively. Even though the term Tertiary has been declared obsolete, some high school curriculums still teach the geologic periods as Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, (Cenozoic-)Tertiary and (Cenozoic-)Quaternary. The term Tertiary was first used by Giovanni Arduino during the mid-18th century. He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in Northern Italy . Later
150-599: The Tertiary Period into four epochs according to the percentage of fossil mollusks resembling modern species found in those strata . He used Greek names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene, and Newer Pliocene. Although these divisions seemed adequate for the region to which the designations were originally applied (parts of the Alps and plains of Italy), when the same system was later extended to other parts of Europe and to America, it proved to be inapplicable. Therefore,
165-502: The deliberative results reported out of any meetings of the ICS are widely accepted and immediately enter everyday use, except in the rare cases where they result in a strong body of dissenting opinion, which matters are resolved before the full IUGS. One such controversy arose in 2009 when the ICS deliberated and decided that the Pliocene Series of the current but unofficially named Quaternary Period should be shifted into
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#1732764863451180-608: The extinction of the non- avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event , at the start of the Cenozoic Era , and extended to the beginning of the Quaternary glaciation at the end of the Pliocene Epoch . The time span covered by the Tertiary has no exact equivalent in the current geologic time system, but it is essentially the merged Paleogene and Neogene periods, which are informally called
195-549: The first stage of the Pleistocene , the Gelasian Stage. International Commission on Stratigraphy The International Commission on Stratigraphy ( ICS ), sometimes unofficially referred to as the " International Stratigraphic Commission ", is a daughter or major subcommittee grade scientific daughter organization that concerns itself with stratigraphical , geological , and geochronological matters on
210-598: The fossil record. (i.e. section of the rock record as of a core sample section or accessible exposed strata, which when a core sample are usually "trayed" in long pieces, also called "sections" about a meter in length.) Additionally the ICS defines an alternative type of benchmark and criteria called Global Standard Stratigraphic Ages (GSSAs) where the characteristics and dating criteria set solely by physical sciences methods (such as magnetic alignment sequences, radiological criteria, etcetera.) as well as encouraging an international and open debate amongst Earth scientists in
225-483: The use of mollusks was abandoned from the definition and the epochs were renamed and redefined. For much of the time during which the term 'Tertiary' was in formal use, it referred to the span of time between 65 and 1.8 million years ago. The end date of the Cretaceous and the start date of the Quaternary were subsequently redefined at c. 66 and 2.6 million years ago respectively. The Tertiary period lies between
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