Piacenzian
second and final age of the Pliocene Epoch
The Piacenzian is, in the international geologic time scale, the upper stage or latest age of the Pliocene. It spans the time between 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma and 2.58 Ma (million years ago). The Piacenzian is after the Zanclean and is followed by the Gelasian (part of the Pleistocene).
The Piacenzian is roughly coeval with the European land mammal age MN 16, overlaps the late Chapadmalalan and early Uquian South American land mammal age and falls inside the more extensive Blancan North American land mammal age. It also correlates with the Astian, Redonian, Reuverian and Romanian regional stages of Europe, and the Waipipian and Mangapanian stages of New Zealand. Some authorities describe the British Red Crag Formation and Waltonian Stage as late Piacenzian, while others regard them as early Pleistocene.
Carbon dioxide levels during the Piacenzian were similar to those of today, making this age, with global mean temperature 2–3 °C (3.6–5.4 °F) higher and sea levels about 20 metres (66 feet) higher than today, an important analogue for predictions of the future of our world.
Definition
The Piacenzian was introduced in scientific literature by Swiss stratigrapher Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1858. It is named after the Italian city of Piacenza.
The base of the Piacenzian is at the base of the Gauss chronozone and at the extinction of the planktonic forams Globorotalia margaritae and Pulleniatina primalis.
“Piacenzian” enters the record as second and final age of the Pliocene Epoch. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Piacenzian, second and final can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q514873. Authority coordinates are 37.289, 13.493. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858.
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This entry incorporates text from “Piacenzian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.