The
Tyrrhenian Stage is the last
faunal stage of the
Pleistocene in
Italy. It runs from 0.26 million (260,000) to 0.01143 million (11,430) years ago.
[ GeoWhen Database: Tyrrhenian European Stage] It overlaps with the end of the Middle Pleistocene and all of the
Late Pleistocene. The time period of the Tyrrhenian Stage is the same as that of the Senegalese fauna assemblage.
[ Hearty, P.J. and Pra, G. Dai (2003) "Comment on: "The age of Late Pleistocene shorelines and tectonic activity of Taranto area, southern Italy" by G. Bellouomini, M. Caldara, C. Casini, M. Cerasoli, L. Manfra, G. Mastrronuzzi, G. Palmentola, P. Sanso, P. Tuccimei, and P.L. Vesica" Quaternary Science Reviews 22: pp. 2363-2367;]
Definition
The end of the Tyrrhenian is defined as exactly 10,000 Carbon-14 years before the present (0.01143 +/- 0.00013 mya), which is near to the end of the
Younger Dryas cold spell.
History of the definition
The Tyrrhenian Stage was first defined in 1914 by
Arturo Issel[Issel, Arturo (1914) "Lembi fossilferi quaternari e recenti nella Sardegna meridionale. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 5(23): pp. 759-770;] to describe the stratigraphic section containing
Strombus fossils originally investigated by
Maurice Gignoux.
[Gignoux, M. (1913) "Les formations marines pliocenes et Quaternaires de l'Italie du sud et de la Sicilie" Annals de l'Universite de Lyon n.s. 36.] Strombus bubonius was the leading
fossil.
See also
