Is the "K–T boundary" now the "K–Pg boundary" ??

oxytropidoceras at cox.net oxytropidoceras at cox.net
Mon Nov 2 20:59:45 EST 2009

Dear Listmembers,

The people on this list, who work with the K-T Boundary might
consider the likelyhood that the recent formal ratification of the
Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch
systems has changes the "K-T Boundary" to the "K-Pg Boundary"
As discussed by Gibbad et al. (2009), the formal ratification of
the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch
systems by the Executive Committee of the International Union
of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has eliminated the "Tertiary" as a
formally recognized Period. As a result, the Cenozoic Era is now
divided into the Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary periods and
the "Tertiary" has been completely abandoned as either a period
or sub-era as shown in figure 1 of Gibbard et al. (2009). This
means that that the "tertiary" has been stripped of any formal
status in stratigraphic nomenclature. Thus, the "Cretaceous-
Tertiary Boundary" is no longer recognized terminology and
leaves the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary as the only officially
sanctioned way in terms of stratigraphic nomenclature of
designating this boundary.

Reference Cited

Gibbard , P L., M. J. Head , M. J. C. Walker, the Subcommission
on Quaternary Stratigraphy, 2009, Formal ratification of the
Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch
with a base at 2.58 Ma. Journal of Quaternary Science.
Published Online: 22 Sep 2009

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122602421/abstract

Yours,

Paul H.