About the SQS

The Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) is a constituent body of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), the largest scientific organisation within the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

The SQS exists to promote and co-ordinate international co-operation and integration by applying the statutary scientific goals of the ICS to the Quaternary – the most recent geological system, the last 2.6 Ma:

  • the establishment and publication of a standard and global geological time-scale for the Quaternary and the preparation and publication of global correlation charts,
  • the unification of regional chronostratigraphical nomenclature by organising and documenting stratigraphical units on a global scale,
  • the promotion of education in stratigraphical methods, and the dissemination of stratigraphical knowledge,
  • the evaluation of new stratigraphical methods and their integration into a multidisciplinary stratigraphy, and
  • the definition of principles of stratigraphical classification, terminology and procedure and their publication in guides and glossaries.

Enquiries

Please direct all enquries about the SQS to:

Dr Fabienne Marret-Davies
Quaternary Subcommission Secretary
University of Liverpool
f.marret@liverpool.ac.uk

Anthropocene Working Group (AWG)

Following the submission of the AWG proposal to define the Anthropocene as a formal series/epoch within the Geological Time Scale to the International Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), a ballot of the voting membership was held on 1 February to 4 March 2024. The AWG proposal was rejected by 66% of the SQS voting membership. The result was confirmed by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and ratified by the International Union of Geological Sciences on 19 March 2024.

Formal statement of the International Union of Geological Sciences and the International Commission on Stratigraphy

It is with the delegated authority of the IUGS President and Secretary General and on behalf of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) that the vote by the ICS Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) to reject the proposal for an Anthropocene Epoch as a formal unit of the Geologic Time Scale is approved. The voting members of SQS have extensive experience and wide expertise in Quaternary stratigraphy and chronology. Their vote was approved by the ICS executive, and that approval was overwhelmingly supported by the chairs of the ICS subcommissions. Despite its rejection as a formal unit of the Geologic Time Scale, the Anthropocene will nevertheless continue to be used not only by Earth and environmental scientists, but also by social scientists, politicians and economists, as well as by the public at large. It will remain an invaluable descriptor of human impact on the Earth system.

As a consequence of these decisions the AWG is now terminated and its participants are warmly thanked for their contributions to the Group’s investigations through the period 2009-2023.

For further information contact, Simon Turner (former AWG secretary) e -mail: simon.turner@ucl.ac.uk

ICS
23 March 2024