Editing Quaternary (section)

==Geology==
{{further|Quaternary geology}}	
The 2.58&nbsp;million years of the Quaternary represents the time during which recognisable humans existed.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Pallab |author-link=Pallab Ghosh |date=4 March 2015 |title='First human' discovered in Ethiopia |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31718336 |work=BBC News |location=London |access-date=19 April 2015}}</ref> Over this geologically short time period there has been relatively little change in the distribution of the continents due to [[plate tectonics]].

The Quaternary geological record is preserved in greater detail than that for earlier periods.

The major geographical changes during this time period included the emergence of the straits of [[Bosphorus]] and [[Skagerrak]] during glacial epochs, which respectively turned the [[Black Sea]] and [[Baltic Sea]] into fresh water lakes, followed by their flooding (and return to salt water) by rising sea level;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=William B.F. |last2=Pitman |first2=Walter C. |last3=Major |first3=Candace O. |last4=Shimkus |first4=Kazimieras |last5=Moskalenko |first5=Vladamir |last6=Jones |first6=Glenn A. |last7=Dimitrov |first7=Petko |last8=Gorür |first8=Naci |last9=Sakinç |first9=Mehmet |last10=Yüce |first10=Hüseyin |title=An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf |journal=Marine Geology |date=April 1997 |volume=138 |issue=1–2 |pages=119–126 |doi=10.1016/s0025-3227(97)00007-8|bibcode=1997MGeol.138..119R |s2cid=129316719 |doi-access=free }}</ref> the periodic filling of the [[English Channel]], forming a land bridge between Britain and the European mainland; the periodic closing of the [[Bering Strait]], forming [[Beringia|the land bridge between Asia and North America]]; and the periodic flash flooding of [[Scablands]] of the American Northwest by glacial water.<ref name="Balbas2017a">Balbas, A.M., Barth, A.M., Clark, P.U., Clark, J., Caffee, M., O'Connor, J., Baker, V.R., Konrad, K. and Bjornstad, B., 2017. [https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/45/7/583/207857/10be-dating-of-late-pleistocene-megafloods-and ''10Be dating of late Pleistocene megafloods and Cordilleran Ice Sheet retreat in the northwestern United States.''] ''Geology'', 45(7), pp. 583-586.</ref>

The current extent of [[Hudson Bay]], the [[Great Lakes]] and other major lakes of North America are a consequence of the [[Canadian Shield]]'s readjustment since the last ice age; different shorelines have existed over the course of Quaternary time.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dyke |first1=Arthur S. |title=An outline of North American deglaciation with emphasis on central and northern Canada |journal=Developments in Quaternary Sciences |year=2004 |volume=2 |pages=373–424 |doi=10.1016/S1571-0866(04)80209-4|isbn=9780444515926 }}</ref>