List of periods and events in climate history


The list of periods and events in climate history includes some notable climate events known to paleoclimatology. Knowledge of precise climatic events decreases as the record goes further back in time. The timeline of glaciation covers ice ages specifically, which tend to have their own names for phases, often with different names used for different parts of the world. The names for earlier periods and events come from geology and paleontology. The marine isotope stages are often used to express dating within the Quaternary.

Scale: Millions of years before present, earlier dates approximate.
All dates are approximate. "" means this is one of the periods from the Blytt-Sernander sequence, originally based on studies of Danish peat bogs.
All dates are BC and approximate. "" means this is one of the periods from the Blytt-Sernander sequence, originally based on studies of Danish peat bogs.