Quaternary Period
2.58 – 0 million years ago · Cenozoic Era
The Quaternary is the current period. It is defined by repeated glacial cycles and by the evolution and global spread of our own species.
At a glance
- Began
- 2.58 Ma
- Ended
- present
- Duration
- 2.58 million years
- Era
- Cenozoic
- Climate state
- Icehouse (polar ice sheets)
- Land above sea level (PaleoDEM)
- ~31.8%
- Dinosaurs on our map
- 0
The world in the Quaternary
Open the interactive map at 0 Ma → Elevation view
What Earth was like
The continents are essentially in their present positions, still moving a few centimeters per year. During glacial peaks, sea level dropped by up to about 120 meters, exposing land bridges such as Beringia between Asia and North America.
Climate
Earth swings between glacial and interglacial states, paced by changes in its orbit. At the Last Glacial Maximum, about 20,000 years ago, ice sheets kilometers thick covered much of North America and northern Europe. We now live in a warm interglacial, the Holocene.
Life
Woolly mammoths, cave bears, giant ground sloths and saber-toothed cats roamed during the ice ages. Homo sapiens evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago and spread across every continent except Antarctica. Many large mammals disappeared at the end of the last ice age.
Dinosaurs of the Quaternary
Non-avian dinosaurs were already gone, wiped out 66 million years ago. Their living descendants are birds.
How it ended
The Quaternary has not ended. It continues today.
Key facts
- There have been dozens of glacial cycles in the last 2.6 million years.
- Humans reached the Americas by at least 15,000–20,000 years ago.
- Finland and Scandinavia are still rising as land rebounds from the vanished ice.
Data: land and sea
Across the Quaternary, an average of 31.8% of Earth’s surface stood above reconstructed sea level (range 31.8–31.8%). Today the same model gives 31.8%.
Where this data comes from
- Continent positions: GPlates Web Service, Müller et al. (2019) plate model, covering 0–250 Ma.
- Elevation and shorelines: PALEOMAP PaleoDEMs, Scotese & Wright (2018), doi:10.5281/zenodo.5460860, CC BY 4.0.
- Period boundaries: ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart (2023/09).
These are scientific reconstructions, not observations. Uncertainty grows the further back in time you go. About & data sources
Related reading
Keep exploring
- Geological periodsTwelve periods, each with a map, dinosaurs and climate.
- Earth's history4.5 billion years in one story, from a molten planet to today.
- Plate tectonicsHow plates move, collide and build mountains and oceans.
- LearnArticles on countries, dinosaurs and supercontinents.
- FAQQuick answers about Pangea and the map.
- About & data sourcesWhere the reconstructions and fossil data come from.