The base of the Zanclean Stage and of the Pliocene Series

Abstract

The ratification by IUGS of the recently defined base of the Zanclean Stage and of the Pliocene Series brings years of controversy to an end. The boundary-stratotype of the stage is located in the Eraclea Minoa section on the southern coast of Sicily (Italy), at the base of the Trubi Formation. The age of the Zanclean and Pliocene GSSP at the base of the stage is 5.33 Ma in the orbitally calibrated time scale, and lies within the lowermost reversed episode of the Gilbert Chron (C3n.4r), below the Thvera normal subchron.