The Neogene: Origin, adoption, evolution, and controversy

Some stratigraphers have recently insisted that for historical reasons, the Neogene (Miocene + Pliocene) should be extended to the present. However, despite some ambiguity in its application by Moriz Hörnes in the 1850s, the “Neogene” was widely adopted by European geologists to refer to the Miocene and Pliocene of Lyell, but excluding the “Diluvium” (later to become the Pleistocene) and “Alluvium” (later to become the Holocene).During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ends of the Neogene, Tertiary and Pliocene evolved in response to the progressive lowering of the beginnings of the Quaternary and Pleistocene. This evolution was a logical result of the widespread views that the most recent “ice ages” were worthy of recognition as a formal unit of the standard geologic time scale, and that the structure of this time scale must be strictly hierarchical.Motivations for the extension of the Neogene to the present include the desire to establish a monopoly for marine biochronology in the definition of standard global chronostratigraphic boundaries. This agenda would also eliminate the Tertiary, Quaternary, and Holocene. These changes are unnecessary. There is every reason to retain the traditional hierarchical structure of the Cenozoic time scale.