Quaternary period
E33564
The Quaternary period is the most recent division of geologic time, characterized by repeated ice ages, the evolution and global spread of modern humans, and significant climatic fluctuations over the last 2.6 million years.
All labels observed (6)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Quaternary | 33 |
| Quaternary period canonical | 13 |
| Quaternary Period | 6 |
| Pleistocene to Holocene | 3 |
| Quaternary stratigraphy | 2 |
| Quaternary glaciation | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T252486 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Quaternary period Context triple: [Pliocene epoch, precedes, Quaternary period]
-
A.
Pleistocene epoch
The Pleistocene epoch was a geological time period characterized by repeated ice ages, widespread glaciation, and the evolution and global spread of modern humans.
-
B.
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic is the current geological era, beginning about 66 million years ago, characterized by the rise and diversification of mammals and birds and the formation of many modern mountain ranges and continents.
-
C.
Holocene
The Holocene is the current geological epoch, beginning around 11,700 years ago, characterized by relatively stable climate conditions and the development of human civilizations.
-
D.
Pliocene epoch
The Pliocene epoch was a geological time period roughly 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago marked by cooler global climates, the expansion of grasslands, and significant evolutionary developments among mammals and early hominins.
-
E.
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period that marks the beginning of the Cenozoic Era, characterized by the diversification of mammals and birds following the mass extinction that ended the age of dinosaurs.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Quaternary period Target entity description: The Quaternary period is the most recent division of geologic time, characterized by repeated ice ages, the evolution and global spread of modern humans, and significant climatic fluctuations over the last 2.6 million years.
-
A.
Pleistocene epoch
The Pleistocene epoch was a geological time period characterized by repeated ice ages, widespread glaciation, and the evolution and global spread of modern humans.
-
B.
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic is the current geological era, beginning about 66 million years ago, characterized by the rise and diversification of mammals and birds and the formation of many modern mountain ranges and continents.
-
C.
Holocene
The Holocene is the current geological epoch, beginning around 11,700 years ago, characterized by relatively stable climate conditions and the development of human civilizations.
-
D.
Pliocene epoch
The Pliocene epoch was a geological time period roughly 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago marked by cooler global climates, the expansion of grasslands, and significant evolutionary developments among mammals and early hominins.
-
E.
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period that marks the beginning of the Cenozoic Era, characterized by the diversification of mammals and birds following the mass extinction that ended the age of dinosaurs.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | geologic period ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Antarctic ice sheet expansion
ⓘ
Northern Hemisphere ice sheets ⓘ formation of modern river systems ⓘ human-induced environmental change in late Holocene ⓘ loess deposition ⓘ permafrost development ⓘ |
| baseDefinedBy |
Gauss–Matuyama geomagnetic reversal
ⓘ
marine isotope stage 103 ⓘ |
| characterizedBy |
development of modern ecosystems
ⓘ
evolution of Homo sapiens ⓘ global climatic fluctuations ⓘ global spread of modern humans ⓘ major ice ages ⓘ megafaunal extinctions ⓘ orbital forcing of climate ⓘ repeated glacial–interglacial cycles ⓘ sea level fluctuations ⓘ |
| climateDriver |
Milankovitch cycles
ⓘ
greenhouse gas concentration changes ⓘ ice sheet dynamics ⓘ |
| contains |
Holocene climatic optimum
ⓘ
Last Glacial Maximum ⓘ Last Interglacial (Eemian) ⓘ
linked to:
Pleistocene epoch
Little Ice Age ⓘ Younger Dryas cold event ⓘ current interglacial ⓘ |
| definedBy | International Commission on Stratigraphy ⓘ |
| duration | about 2.58 million years ⓘ |
| endTime | present ⓘ |
| follows |
Neogene period
ⓘ
linked to:
Neogene
|
| hasEpoch |
Holocene epoch
ⓘ
linked to:
Holocene
Pleistocene epoch ⓘ |
| includesTaxonEvent |
Denisovan extinction
ⓘ
Late Quaternary megafaunal extinction ⓘ Neanderthal extinction ⓘ domestication of plants and animals ⓘ emergence of genus Homo ⓘ evolution of anatomically modern humans ⓘ rise of human civilizations ⓘ |
| partOf |
Cenozoic Era
ⓘ
linked to:
Cenozoic
|
| precedes |
Holocene epoch
ⓘ
linked to:
Holocene
|
| startTime |
Pleistocene epoch onset
ⓘ
approximately 2.58 million years ago ⓘ |
| stratotypeSection | Vrica section, Calabria, Italy ⓘ |
| subdividedInto |
Early Holocene
ⓘ
linked to:
Holocene
Early Pleistocene ⓘ
linked to:
Pleistocene epoch
Late Holocene ⓘ
linked to:
Holocene
Late Pleistocene ⓘ
linked to:
Pleistocene epoch
Middle Holocene ⓘ
linked to:
Holocene climatic optimum
Middle Pleistocene ⓘ
linked to:
Pleistocene epoch
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Quaternary period Description of subject: The Quaternary period is the most recent division of geologic time, characterized by repeated ice ages, the evolution and global spread of modern humans, and significant climatic fluctuations over the last 2.6 million years.
Referenced by (58)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
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subject linked to:
Great American Biotic Interchange between North and South America
linked to: Quaternary period
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subject linked to:
El Misti volcano
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
subject linked to:
Tupungatito volcano
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
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linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
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subject linked to:
Ampato volcano
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period
linked to: Quaternary period