The Thanetian is, in the

ICS ICS may refer to: Computing * Image Cytometry Standard, a digital multidimensional image file format used in life sciences microscopy * Industrial control system, computer systems and networks used to control industrial plants and infrastructu ...

Geologic timescale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronol ...

, the latest

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

or uppermost

stratigraphic stage In chronostratigraphy, a stage is a succession of rock strata laid down in a single age on the geologic timescale, which usually represents millions of years of deposition. A given stage of rock and the corresponding age of time will by conventi ...

of the Paleocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Thanetian is preceded by the Selandian Age and followed by the Ypresian Age (part of the Eocene). The Thanetian is sometimes referred to as the Late Paleocene.

Stratigraphic definition

The Thanetian was established by

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

geologist Eugène Renevier in 1873. The Thanetian is named after the

Thanet Formation The Thanet Formation is a Formation (geology), geological formation found in the London Basin of southeastern England.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 configura ...

deposit of the London Basin, which was first identified in the area of Kent (southern England) known as the Isle of Thanet. The base of the Thanetian Stage is laid at the base of magnetic

chronozone A chronozone or chron is a unit in chronostratigraphy, defined by events such as geomagnetic reversals (magnetozones), or based on the presence of specific fossils (biozone or biochronozone). According to the International Commission on Stratig ...

C26n. The references profile ( Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) is in the Zumaia section (43° 18'N, 2° 16'W) at the beach of Itzurun,

Pais Vasco : Pais is a red wine grape that has played a prominent role in the Chilean wine industry. Up until the turn of the 21st century, it was Chile's most planted variety until it was overtaken by Cabernet Sauvignon. Today it is most commonly used in t ...

, northern Spain. Fossils of the unicellular planktonic marine coccolithophore '' Areoligeria gippingensis'' make their first appearance at the base of the Thanetian, and help define its lowest stratigraphic boundary. The top of the Thanetian Stage (the base of the Ypresian) is defined at a strong negative anomaly in δ¹³C values at the global thermal maximum at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. The Thanetian Stage is coeval the lower Neustrian European land mammal age (it spans the Mammal Paleogene zone 6 and part of zones 1 through 5.), the upper Tiffanian and Clarkforkian

North American land mammal ages 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 ref ...

, the Riochican and part of the Itaboraian South American land mammal ages and the upper Nongshanian and Gashatan

Asian land mammal ages 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 ...

. The Thanetian is contemporary with the middle Wangerripian regional stage of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and the upper Ynezian regional stage of California. It overlaps the obsolete regional stages

Landenian The Thanetian is, in the ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age or uppermost stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Thanetian is preceded by the Selandian Age and followed by the Ypresian Age (part ...

and Heersian of Belgium.

Palaeontology

The ''Sézanne flora'' is a fossil assemblage preserved in freshwater limestone deposits at

Sézanne Sézanne () is a commune in the Marne department and Grand Est region in north-eastern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions an ...

, laid down during the Thanetian Age, when Europe enjoyed a tropical climate. In the lagerstätte, leaves, entire flowers and seeds are minutely preserved. Also, the first representatives of

Proboscidea The Proboscidea (; , ) are a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. From ...

appeared, ''

Eritherium ''Eritherium'' is an extinct genus of early Proboscidea found in the Ouled Abdoun basin (early Thanetian age), Morocco. It lived about 60 million years ago. It was first named by Emmanuel Gheerbrant in 2009 and the type species is ''Eritherium ...

''.

Climate

This period was characterized by temperatures warmer than those of today.

References

Literature

*; 2007: ''Closing the Mid-Palaeocene gap: Toward a complete astronomically tuned Palaeocene Epoch and Selandian and Thanetian GSSPs at Zumaia (Basque Basin, W. Pyrenees)'', Earth and Planetary Science Letters 262: pp 450–467. *; 2004: ''A Geologic Time Scale 2004'', Cambridge University Press. *; 1873: ''Tableau des terrains sédimentaires formés pendant les époques de la phase organique du globe terrestre'', Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles ( Lausanne) 12: pp 218–252.

External links

GeoWhen Database - ThanetianPaleogene timescale
at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS
Stratigraphic chart of the Paleogene
at the website of Norges Network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy {{Authority control Paleocene geochronology Geological ages