Calabrian stage

EtymologyName formalityFormalUsage informationCelestial bodyEarthRegional usageGlobal (ICS)Time scale(s) usedICS Time ScaleDefinitionChronological unitAgeStratigraphic unitStageTime span formalityFormalLower boundary definitionApproximately 8 m after the end of magnetic polarity chronozone C2n (Olduvai)Lower boundary GSSPVrica Section, Calabria, Italy
39°02′19″N17°08′05″E / 39.0385°N 17.1348°E / 39.0385; 17.1348Lower GSSP ratified5 December 2011 (as base of Calabrian)Upper boundary definition1.1 m below the directional midpoint of the Brunhes-Matuyama magnetic reversalUpper boundary GSSPChiba, Japan
35°17′39″N140°08′47″E / 35.2943°N 140.1465°E / 35.2943; 140.1465Upper GSSP ratified2020

Calabrian is a subdivision of the PleistoceneEpoch of the geologic time scale, defined as 1.8 Ma—774,000 years ago ± 5,000 years, a period of ~1.026 million years.

The end of the stage is defined by the last magnetic pole reversal (781 ± 5 Ka) and plunge into an ice age and global drying possibly colder and drier than the late Miocene (Messinian) through early Pliocene (Zanclean) cold period. Originally the Calabrian was a European faunal stage primarily based on mollusk fossils. It has become the second geologic age in the Early Pleistocene.