ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the very wide range of methods that are currently employed in Quaternary research. It demonstrates that both a multidisciplinary and an interdisciplinary approach are required if a proper understanding of the complexities of the Quaternary environment is to be achieved. The Quaternary is the most recent major subdivision of the geological record, and it extends up to, and includes, the present day. The deep-ocean sediment record suggests that over the course of the full range of Quaternary time, the world may have experienced more than fifty glacial stages and a corresponding number of temperate or interglacial periods. The repeated climatic fluctuations that have occurred of earth history have given rise to a highly complex record of landforms, sediments, biological remains and assemblages of human artefacts. In geology, all formal chronostratigraphic units and the boundaries between them are defined on the basis of type/reference sections or stratotypes, also known as Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSP).
