We’re now in the Meghalayan Age, a new chapter of Earth’s history, experts say

The period began 4,200 years ago with an abrupt mega-drought (ICS)We are living in the Meghalayan Age, a new chapter in the history of our planet, according to geologists.

The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) has classified the past 4,200 years as a distinct age – the Meghalayan – in geological terms.

It’s a subdivision of the Holocene era, one of three approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.

The Meghalayan began with a huge drought that disrupted civilisations in Egypt, Syria and China, the geologists say.

The history of our planet now has a new chapter, the Meghalayan Age, that began 4,200 years ago.

The researchers say, ‘Agricultural-based societies that developed in several regions after the end of the last Ice Age were impacted severely by the 200-year climatic event that resulted in the collapse of civilizations and human migrations in Egypt, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze River Valley.

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‘Evidence of the 4.2 kiloyear climatic event has been found on all seven continents.’

The International Commission on Stratigraphy approved proposals for two other ages: the Middle Holocene Northgrippian Age and the Early Holocene Greenlandian Age with beginnings defined at climatic events that happened about 8,300 years and 11,700 years ago, respectively.

The three ages comprise the Holocene Epoch, which represents the time since the end of the last Ice Age.