Rupelian

The Rupelian is an important time in Earth's history. It is part of the geologic timescale. The Rupelian is the older of two ages in the Oligocene Epoch.

The Rupelian lasted from about 33.9 million years ago to 27.3 million years ago.

This time comes after the Priabonian Stage and is followed by the Chattian Stage. Scientists use periods like the Rupelian to learn about changes in Earth's climate, plants, and animals over millions of years.

Name

The Rupelian stage is named after the small river Rupel in Belgium. This river flows into a larger river called the Scheldt. Belgian scientists chose this name. They first used it in writing in 1850. The scientist who wrote it was André Hubert Dumont. Later, scientists split the name for the rock layers from the time period to make things easier to understand.

Stratigraphic definition

The Rupelian is an old part of a time period called the Oligocene. It began when a special type of tiny sea creature called Hantkenina went extinct. Scientists picked a place in Italy called Massignano to mark the start of this time about 33.9 million years ago.

The Rupelian ended when another tiny sea creature, Chiloguembelina, went extinct. This ending was marked in a place called Monte Conero, also in Italy, in 2017. During the Rupelian, many land areas around the world had their own names for this time, like the Orellan and Whitneyan in North America.