A History of Agriculture in India v1.c12.5

v1.c12.5

The Quaternary, the shortest of all the geological periods and unparalleled climatically in its development of the Ice Age, commenced about a million years ago. It is subdivided into the Pleistocene (the glacial age) and the Holocene or Recent (the post-glacial age). The Holocene began about 10,000 years ago. Russian scientists, however, recognize three subdivisions of the Quaternary, namely the Eopleistocene (Q₁), the Pleistocene (Q₂) and the Epipleistocene (Holocene, Q₃). Though moraines were first discovered in the Swiss Alps in about 1800, most of the Quaternary deposits have been known for a long time as products of flood, to which Buckland in 1823 gave the name Diluvium. The Holocene was formerly known in Germany as Alluvium. Venetz in 1829 first suggested that glaciers formerly existed in northern Europe. Evidences of extensive glaciation in northern North America were found some years later. About a century ago, it was discovered that the Kashmir Valley and its adjoining northern parts were also heavily glaciated in the past (Fig. 21).