The Zanclean is the lowest

stage 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 * Sta ...

or earliest age on the geologic time scale of the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Ma (million years ago) and 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma. It is preceded by the Messinian Age of the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Epoch, and followed by the Piacenzian Age. The Zanclean can be correlated with regionally used stages, such as the Opoitian of New Zealand, and the Tabianian or Dacian of Central Europe. It also corresponds to the late Hemphillian to mid- Blancan North American Land Mammal Ages. In

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, the Zanclean roughly corresponds to the middle part of the Delmontian stage.

Definition

The Zanclean Stage was introduced by Giuseppe Seguenza in 1868. It is named after ''

Zancle Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in t ...

'', the pre- Roman name for the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

city of Messina on

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. The base of the Zanclean (and the Pliocene Series) lies with the top of magnetic chronozone Cr3 (about 100,000 years before the Thvera normal subchronozone C3n.4n). The base is also close to the extinction level of the calcareous

nanoplankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cruc ...

species ''Triquetrorhabdulus rugosus'' (the base of

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 ...

CN10b) and the first appearance of nanoplankton ''Ceratolithus acutus''. The

GSSP A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic section which defines the lower boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale. The effort to define GSSPs is conducted ...

for the Zanclean is in the vicinity of the ruins of the ancient city of Heraclea Minoa on

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The top of the Zanclean Stage (the base of the Piacenzian Stage) is at the base of magnetic chronozone C2An (the base of the Gauss chronozone and at the extinction of the planktonic

foram Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly a ...

s ''Globorotalia margaritae'' and ''Pulleniatina primalis''.

Events of the Zanclean

* The Zanclean flood marked the beginning of the age and the end of the Messinian, as water poured in from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

through the Strait of Gibraltar to

deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...

the Mediterranean Basin and end the Messinian Event, a period about 5.96 Ma ago in the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch when the Mediterranean Sea had evaporated partly or completely.A high-resolution stratigraphic framework for the latest Messinian events in the Mediterranean area. vol. 5, nos. 3-4, pp. 323-342, text-figures 1-9, 2008. *Deposits in the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

were deposited when high tropical water started to return in the late Zanclean.

References

Notes

Literature

*; 1998: ''The Global Standard Stratotype section and Point (GSSP) of the Piacenzian Stage (Middle Pliocene)'', Episodes, 21(2): pp 88–93. * (''eds.'') (2005) ''A Geologic Time Scale 2004'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, . *; 1868: ''La Formation Zancléenne, ou recherches sur une nouvelle formation tertiaire'', Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, séries 2, 25: 465-485. *; 2000: ''The base of the Zanclean Stage and of the Pliocene Series'', Episodes, 23(3): pp 179–187.

External links

*
Neogene timescale
at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS
Neogene timescale
at the website of the Norwegian network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy {{coord, 37.3917, N, 13.2806, E, source:wikidata, display=title *01 Neogene geochronology Geological ages