Meghalayan Age: Geologists declare a new chapter in the earth's history

Geologists have identified a new age in the history of our planet which covers the past 4,200 years.

The beginning of the new chapter called the Meghalayan Age was marked by a mega-drought that crushed a number of civilisations worldwide, scientists say.

The huge environmental event left its mark on rocks which have been found on all of the earth's continents.

Geologists with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) voted on the new classification last month, Long Beach University claimed.

According to geologists, the International Chronostratigraphic Chart, the famous diagram depicting the timeline for the earth's history, will be updated to include the new age.

The chart shows the earth divided up into slices of time. Each slice reflects a dramatic change in the earth’s environment for example shifts in climate change and the breaking up of continents.

Currently we are in the Holocene Epoch Age which was spurred on by the warming of the earth after the Ice Age 1,700 years ago.

The Meghalayan Age is the youngest stage within the Holocene Epoch Age and runs from 4,200 years ago to 1950.

It began as a drought which lasted two centuries and disrupted civilisations in Egypt, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze River Valley.

In order to be classified as a new age, a slice of geological time has to reflect a global environmental event and is usually associated with an obvious rock or sediment type.

For the Meghalayan, the event is marked by specific chemical signatures, the best example of which can be seen in the layers of rock on the floors of caves in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya.