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The European Land Mammal Mega Zones (abbreviation: ELMMZ, more commonly known as European land mammal ages or ELMA) are zones in rock layers that have a specific assemblage of fossils (
biozone In biostratigraphy, biostratigraphic units or biozones are intervals of geological strata that are defined on the basis of their characteristic fossil taxa, as opposed to a lithostratigraphic unit which is defined by the lithological properties o ...
s) based on occurrences of fossil assemblages of European land mammals. These biozones cover most of the
Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configurat ...
, with particular focus having been paid to the Neogene and Paleogene
systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and express ...
(i.e. rock layers which are 65.5 to 2.588 million years old), the Quaternary has several competing systems. In cases when fossils of mammals are abundant, stratigraphers and
paleontologists Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...
can use these biozones as a more practical regional alternative to the
stages Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * St ...
of the official ICS geologic timescale. European Land Mammal Mega Zones are often also confusingly referred to as ages, stages, or intervals.


Biostratigraphic methods

Mammal zones were, like all biozones, established using geographic place names where fossil materials were obtained. The basic unit of measure is the first/last boundary statement. This shows that the first appearance event of one taxon is known to predate the last appearance event of another. If two
taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
are found in the same fossil
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
or at the same stratigraphic horizon, then their age-range zones overlap. The terrestrial stratigraphy of the
Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configurat ...
is more difficult than that of marine deposits. The geologic timescale of the ICS is therefore based on marine fossils, that don't occur in terrestrial sediments. This makes the correlation of terrestrial deposits with the ICS timescale often difficult. Correlation is possible when marine deposits interfinger with terrestrial deposits (resulting from a series of transgressions and
regression Regression or regressions may refer to: Science * Marine regression, coastal advance due to falling sea level, the opposite of marine transgression * Regression (medicine), a characteristic of diseases to express lighter symptoms or less extent ( ...
s of the sea during deposition), but this isn't the case everywhere. A fine stratigraphic division of the terrestrial record can in most places only be made using fossils of land species. Small mammals are often the best choice as they are quite abundant in the terrestrial record, especially their teeth. Teeth have an even better chance of preservation than bones. The European mammalian biozones were established for the Paleogene (66-23.03 Mya, 8 zones) and Neogene (23.03-2.58 Mya, 7 zones) separately. Some of these, especially for the Neogene, were already established in the 19th century. The
Villafranchian Villafranchian age ( ) is a period of geologic time (3.5–1.0 Ma) spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto for a sequence of terrestrial se ...
was, for example, introduced by
Lorenzo Pareto Lorenzo Nicolò Pareto (Genoa, 6 December 1800 – Genoa, 19 June 1865) was an Italian geologist and statesman. As a man of science, he is considered one of the fathers of modern geology. A member of the Italian National Academy of Sciences, h ...
in 1865. A finer subdivision was established by
Pierre Mein Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translatio ...
in 1975, who divided the Neogene in 17 zones, known as the
MN zonation The Mammal Neogene zones or MN zones are system of biostratigraphic zones in the stratigraphic record used to correlate mammal-bearing fossil localities of the Neogene period of Europe. It consists of seventeen consecutive zones (numbered MN 1 thro ...
, indicated by the letters MN (Mammal Neogene) and a number. Similarly, a more detailed subdivision for the Paleogene period was established. There are 30 such
Mammal Paleogene zone The Mammal Paleogene zones or MP zones are system of biostratigraphic zones in the stratigraphic record used to correlate mammal-bearing fossil localities of the Paleogene period of Europe. It consists of thirty consecutive zones (numbered MP 1 th ...
s (MP1 to MP30, numbered from old to young).


Paleogene European mammal zones

There are 30
Mammal Paleogene zone The Mammal Paleogene zones or MP zones are system of biostratigraphic zones in the stratigraphic record used to correlate mammal-bearing fossil localities of the Paleogene period of Europe. It consists of thirty consecutive zones (numbered MP 1 th ...
s covering the Paleogene (66-23.03 Mya).


Neogene European mammal zones

European Land Mammal Mega Zones most often have their bases at first appearances (FAD, First Appearance Date) of a certain
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
or genus. The numbers are higher for younger zones. Due to a redefinition of the boundary between the Neogene and Quaternary periods, MN 17 is now in fact considered a Quaternary biozone.


Quaternary European mammal zones

The first zonation for the Quaternary of Europe was proposed by Azzaroli in 1967. This was then expanded by Gliozzi ''et al.'' in 1997 to make a system of 3 'ages' subdivided into 13 'faunal units'.Gliozzi, Elsa, Laura Abbazzi, Patrizia Argenti, Augusto Azzaroli, Lucia Caloi, Lucia Capasso Barbato, Giuseppe Di Stefano, et al. 1997. “Biochronology of Selected Mammals, Molluscs and Ostracods from the Middle Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene in Italy: The State of the Art.” Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 103 (3): 369–88. The scheme does not define boundaries but instead is accompanied by a range chart, where the entry and exit dates for the taxa are indicated. Each zone is named after a reference locality. Most of the reference locations are in Italy but the scheme is used in other European regions. The mammal ages and Faunal Units (FU) after Gliozzi ''et al.'' are: In 1982, Guérin proposed an alternative scheme, which extended the
MN zonation The Mammal Neogene zones or MN zones are system of biostratigraphic zones in the stratigraphic record used to correlate mammal-bearing fossil localities of the Neogene period of Europe. It consists of seventeen consecutive zones (numbered MN 1 thro ...
scheme for the Neogene with additional units to cover the Quaternary. There have been further updates since. The MNQ (Mammal Neogene Quaternary) scheme added an additional 12 units in total, MNQ 16–27. For small mammals there is a third scheme, the MmQ, published by Agustí, Moyà‐Solà, and Pons‐Moyà in 1987. The scheme includes some large mammals for reference and thus has a wider application.van der, Made, J. (2018). Quaternary Large‐Mammal Zones. In The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences, S.L. López Varela (Ed.). doi:10.1002/9781119188230.saseas0486


Other continental mammalian biozones

*
Asian land mammal age The Asian land mammal ages, acronym ALMA, establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric Asian fauna beginning 58.7 Mya during the Paleogene and continuing through to the Miocene ( Aquitanian) (23.03 Ma). These periods are referred to as ages, sta ...
*
Mammal Paleogene zone The Mammal Paleogene zones or MP zones are system of biostratigraphic zones in the stratigraphic record used to correlate mammal-bearing fossil localities of the Paleogene period of Europe. It consists of thirty consecutive zones (numbered MP 1 th ...
*
North American land mammal age The North American land mammal ages (NALMA) establishes a geologic timescale for North American fauna beginning during the Late Cretaceous and continuing through to the present. These periods are referred to as ages or intervals (or stages when ...
* South American land mammal age


References


Notes


Literature

*Koufos, G.D.; Kostopoulos, D.S. & Vlachou, T.D. (2005). '"Neogene/Quaternary mammalian migrations in Eastern Mediterranean", ''Belgian Journal of Zoology'' 135(2): pp. 181–190. * *Mein, P. (1975). ''Report on activity RCMNS-Working groups, 1971–1975'', pp. 78–81, Bratislava. * *{{cite book, last=Steininger , first=F.F. , chapter=Chronostratigraphy, Geochronology and Biochronology of the Miocene "European Land Mammal Mega-Zones" (ELMMZ) and the Miocene "Mammal Zones (MN-Zones)" , pages=9–24 , editor-last1=Rössner, editor-first1=G. E., editor-last2=Heissig, editor-first2=K., title=The Miocene land mammals of Europe, date=1999, publisher=Pfeil, location=München, isbn=3-931516-50-4


External links


Stratigraphic charts
at http://stratigraphy.science.purdue.edu Regional geologic time scales Biochronology Cenozoic Europe * de:ELMMZ Neogen