An Indian state just made history, literally

• International Union of Geological Science (IUGS) has decided to divide the Holocene epoch into sub-divisions. And they’ve named the youngest phase in history the ‘Meghalayan Age’.
• The stalagmites in the Mawmluh Cave provide evidence of the climatic shift that led to a drought in every major civilisation around the world 4,200 years ago.
  
• Some academicians are of the opinion that the decision is premature and question whether climate shifts should be a parameter of significance.

The history of Earth is divided into eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages. And, the youngest age in history has been named the ‘Meghalayan Age’ after the northeastern state of Meghalaya by the International Union of Geological Science (IUGS).

Even the default timeline of the earth, the International Chronostratigraphic Chart, has been updated to include its latest entrant.

And it’s just not Meghalaya on its own. The entire Holocene epoch has been sub-divided into three categories. The oldest age is the Greelandian that starts 11,700 years ago, followed by the Northgrippian that clocks in 8326 years ago. After which, the Meghalayan Age comes up to represent everything from 4,200 years ago to 1950.

How does it work?

The Earth’s been around for 4.6 billion years now and that’s a long to time to keep a record of. To make things easier, the entire existence of the planet has been divided into slices of time. Those slices of time, in turn, are decided by a significant event that had an impact on the Earth’s geography, for instance, when the supercontinent of Pangea started to break into the continents that we know now.

But, why Meghalaya?

The Holocene epoch, the youngest epoch in the earth’s history covers the events of the past 11,700 years. Basically, everything since the last ice-age. The Meghalyan Age falls under this Holocene epoch, representing the past from 4200 years ago to 1950.



This was the time when droughts had a huge impact on the all the major civilisations around the world. History shows that no-one from the Egyptian civilisation in the west to the Yangtze River Valley civilisation in the east was exempt. Most texts attribute this change to shifts in atmospheric and oceanic currents.

This phase is specifically called the Meghalyan because of the stalagmites found on the floors of the Mawmluh Cave in the state. They show the deviation that occurred in the type of isotopes of oxygen atoms and was a result of these droughts.

This shift is interpreted as an indication of weakening monsoon conditions at that time, providing an indication of a climatic shift.

But well, not everyone is happy with this classification. The idea of creating different ages within the Holocene hasn’t been one that’s been unanimously accepted. Some academicians are of the opinion that the decision is premature and question whether climate shifts should be a parameter of significance.

However, while they work that issue out, Meghalaya, and India, can celebrate making history.