Northgrippian
Middle Holocene age (8.2–4.2 ka approximately), with its GSSP in the North Greenland Ice Core Project record.
Language and route: English research-project acronym NorthGRIP (North Greenland Ice Core Project) + scientific stage suffix. English research-project acronym NorthGRIP (North Greenland Ice Core Project) + scientific stage suffix. English acronym for the ice-core project; not an Ancient Greek stem.
Literal gloss: of NorthGRIP
The name and its history
Holocene subdivision working group (Walker et al.) · 14 June 2018 IUGS ratification
- What does the word literally mean?
- of NorthGRIP
- What did the original author mean?
- The name commemorates the NGRIP1 ice core, not a people or separate Greenlandic place-name; the working group selected an ice-core feature near the 8.2 ka climate perturbation.
- Why was the name needed?
- Informal middle Holocene terminology lacked a universally fixed starting point, hampering comparison between palaeoclimate archives.
- What evidence supported the original concept?
- The lower GSSP is an electrical-conductivity double peak in the ice core, associated with volcanic signals and close to the well-correlated 8.2 ka climate event.
- How has geology changed the concept?
- Ratification in 2018 fixed a globally applicable chronostratigraphic age, while its climate marker remains an aid to correlation rather than the name’s linguistic origin.
Further historical context
The name commemorates the NGRIP1 ice core, not a people or separate Greenlandic place-name; the working group selected an ice-core feature near the 8.2 ka climate perturbation.
Informal middle Holocene terminology lacked a universally fixed starting point, hampering comparison between palaeoclimate archives.
The lower GSSP is an electrical-conductivity double peak in the ice core, associated with volcanic signals and close to the well-correlated 8.2 ka climate event.
Ratification in 2018 fixed a globally applicable chronostratigraphic age, while its climate marker remains an aid to correlation rather than the name’s linguistic origin.
Editorial qualification
Avoid translating NorthGRIP as Greek “north + grip”, and distinguish the GSSP signal from the broader event used to correlate it.
Related names
Sources
- ICS, International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2026/06 — Governing classification, chronological sequence and numerical reference ages; not naming priority
- Walker et al. (2012), Formal subdivision of the Holocene: discussion paper — Contemporaneous proposal to replace variable informal tripartition by worldwide divisions
- Walker et al. (2018), Formal ratification of the subdivision of the Holocene, Episodes — Official naming, locations, proxy markers and ratification on 14 June 2018
- Walker et al. (2019), Subdividing the Holocene: GSSPs and auxiliary stratotypes — Detailed explanation of the Holocene stage names and definitions
- ICS Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Major divisions — Institutional history of Quaternary stages, GSSPs, and reassignment of the Gelasian
- ICS, International Stratigraphic Guide: Chronostratigraphic Units — Stage/age, series/epoch and subseries/subepoch distinctions