In plain and direct meaning, the term Quaternary deposit denotes sedimentary record laid down during Quaternary. The Quaternary landslide indicates the event that occurred during Quaternary.

Aadityan:

For quality insight you may see this link:

Best

Syed

Dear Mr. Sr:

Dr. Beaudoin has already paved the way to an explanation of the technical term and marked the beginning and end (?) of this interval. The term "Quaternary" coined by A. Morlot (1858) only becomes a logic term in view of its predecessor called "Tertiary" (the Secondary Period = Mesozoic and Primary Period = Paleozoic do not exist like these terms in chronostratigphy). The most recent changes in chronostratigraphy led to an abolition of the term "Tertiary" in favour of the Paleogene and Neogene building up the Cenozoic together with the Quaternary. The term "Quaternary" thereby became an isolate term. The processes active during the Quaternary are manifold, among others encompassing mass wasting processes such as landslides which are well preserved due to the age of formation and which are still active or under development. It would go far beyond this Q&A process to summarize all geologically and geomorphologically relevant and meaningful processes in Quaternary geosciences.

With best regards

H.G.Dill

As per .Dr. Braudoin s comments 

Hi Amritha

The Quaternary is an old term for the fourth period of Geologic time and is still used.

We are still in it ..  it is also known as "The Great Ice Age".

In  "The Great Ice Age" we have "Glacial Periods" followed by "Inter-Glacial Periods", followed by another "Glacial Period" etc.

We are currently in an "Inter-Glacial" period. The next "Glacial Period" will happen in a few thousand years time.

"Landslides" are just one of a thousand Geomorphological processes taking place in these "Glacial/Inter-Glacials".

Giovanni Arduino (1759) separated geologic time in to Primary/Secondary/Tertiary; in 1829, Jules Desnoyers added the term Quaternary; the term has been used since then to describe the recent period of glacial/interglacial cycles.

Hi Paul,

You say we are still in the Quaternary-"The Great Ice Age". But some people are now arguing that we may be in a new geological epoch-Anthropocene!

The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time? Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. a(2011) 369 (M. Williams & J Zalasiewicz (editors).

Cheers, Qasim

In Geological time scale, the term Quaternary denotes... present period of earth history, forming the latter part of the Cenozoic Era. It spans from 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present and includes Holocene and Pleistocene Epochs.

Pleistocene (2.588 million years ago to 11.7 thousand years ago) and the Holocene (11.7 thousand years ago to today.

Anything which got deposited during this geological period are called quaternary deposits and landslides during this period imply quaternary landslides.

The Quaternary is an internationally accepted term referring to a particular time interval as defined above. You need to clearly distinguish between time terms and time-rock terms which refer to the actual physical deposits within a particular time unit and are defined by type sections in different parts of the world where they are best displayed. Sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks can be formed during Quaternary time just as at any other time during the past. Most of the sedimentary rocks will be unconsolidated and they include those sediments currently being laid down. Landslide deposits will only be a minor and localised component.

Humankind has affected the nature of Earths sedimentation so dramatically eg through affects of atomic tests and plastics and increased erosion and fire and the scale of agriculture and modification of the earth's surface, that the current industrial times will clearly show in the rock record as a markedly radioactive zone full of hydrocarbons and with dramatic extinction rates of living organisms. Hence the proposal of Anthropogene. It is likely to be a very short interval if industrial climate change is not brought under control.

Quatenary is the most recent and current of the Cenozoic era and it is about 2.6Ma. It is particular period in geologic history. Quartenary deposits are deposits that were laid down during quaternary

The history of the term "Quaternary" is well explained above by Mr. Dill. So in an old way of earth creation classification, Quaternary was the fourth phase, and maybe the etymology is from Italian language "Quarto".

Arduino was firs to use it, when studying the geological cross section of north Italia observed four kind of rocks, which began from ultramaffic rocks (primary) to recent unconsolidated depositions (fourth or quarto).

The acceptance of this concept was very difficult, but at the end the Quaternary is the only therm survived by the fourth class classification.

Today is accepted than Quaternary begin 2.6 million years before now, and is subdivided into Pleistocene -2.6Ma to 11.7 ka, and Holocene from 11.7Ka until present.

The main characteristic is the appearance of Homo Sapiens during this geological Period and the glacial inter-glacial oscillation during Pleistocene (four significant).

Quaternary deposition are deposition that belong to this period, younger of which belong to Holocene. Quaternary landslides is a therm that I encounter for the first time, but I believe they are actual and active landslides and that this must be the correct terminology. I don't believe a landslide can be collected with an entire geological period, as we can do it with tectonic activity.

But it must be in the concrete framework. if they are some landslides, created by sea level rise during the Holocene transgression, you can use a term like Holocene landslides, but the correctness of this term is to be evaluated.

good answer from Sokol Marku , adding in the area were there was no glacial we called the Quaternary stages as pluvial(glacial) and inter pluvial( instead of inter glacial). Finally it is a human period.

According to the updated Geological Time Table, all those sediments which have age of    2.8 Ma and younger are considered as Quaternary Period, It includes Pleistocene and Holocene, the latter is 10 000 years old only.

I agree with the term said by Mr. Abed Faiyad, it is the human period. In near-surface exploration, for archaeology in particular, we deal with the Quaternary deposits. Therefore, it is very important to have a good knowledge on the characteristics of this deposits.

Thanks a lot to all the researchers for their Answers, please keep adding your valuable suggestions and answers. I have learnt a lot from this discussion and i am thirsty for more!

The term Quaternary only define a lapse of time for which the explored deposits are constrained. According to the International Chronostratigraphic Char, the Quaternary period is too old as 2 500 000 years ... In that case, Quaternary Landslides encompass only that mass movements occurred during the Quaternary. However, it is required to define the exact epoch when the studied or interest landslide(s) occurred (Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene).

The Quaternary Geological Period consisted of Glacial and Inter-Glacial episodes. Landslides will have only occurred during the Inter-Glacial periods.

During the Glacial Periods the mud would have been frozen as hard as rock.

Quaternary includes Pleistocene anf Holocele periods corresponding to the last 1 800 kyrs of the earth age.

Dear Aadityan,

The term Quaternary stems from the old usage that classified rock into Primary (igneous and metamorphic rocks of basement) Secondary (comprising folded and tilted rocks overlying basement); Tertiary (comprising rocks that are not folded not tilted); and Quaternary (the youngest consisting of glacial and such deposits) We now know that all Primary and secondary rocks are not of same age for there are igneous and metamorphic rocks of Cenozoic age while some sediments are older. Tertiary and Quaternary are now obsolete, just as Primary and Secondary. They are replaced by Cenozoic comprising Paleogene and Neogene; and Pleistocene and Holocene representing the Quaternary.

With the alternating cold and warm climates of the Pleistocene and Holocene, the landslides dated approximately 2my and younger belong to what you call Quaternary ones.

Obianuju P. Umeji

The Quaternary is still generally considered to be broken into 2 time divisions. The First being the Pleistocene ( up to 10,000 years ago) and the Second being the Holocene ( up to the Present point in time).

Cheers

Paul

Geologist

North Pembrokeshire

Wales

As has been generally answered already:

The Quaternary period is the most recent period in the Cenozoic era, following the Tertiary period and comprising the Pleistocene, Holocene, and Athropocene epochs. This period of geologic time spans from 2.58 Million years ago to the present day.

There are many rocks and deposits that have formed in the Quaternary period, and can be found all over the Earth. These rocks and deposits are not limited to simply recent landslides or glacial-interglacial deposits, but also to any lava flows, volcanic eruptions, or new oceanic crust that has formed in the past 2.58 million years (wow, that's a lot of rock!). In fact, all of the island country of Iceland has been created in this geologic time period.

Geologically, we see these as new rock formations, since the Quaternary is only roughly 0.057% of Earth history.

If you have any other Earth science questions that have not been answered yet, please feel free to reach out and contact me.

Cheers,

I have seen books, papers, articles and so on where quaternary was described as Era, Epoch an Period.

But it seams that "officially":

Quaternary is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).

The Quaternary Period is a geologic time period that encompasses the most recent 2.6 million years — including the present day. Part of the Cenozoic Era, the period is usually divided into two epochs — the Pleistocene Epoch, which lasted from approximately 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago, and Holocene Epoch extending until now.

Some start including a 3rd Quaternary Period's Epoch, but it seams that "officially":

Anthropocene Epoch, unofficial interval of geologic time, making up the third worldwide division of the Quaternary Period (2.6 million years ago to the present), characterized as the time in which the collective activities of human beings (Homo sapiens) began to substantially alter Earth’s surface, atmosphere, oceans, and systems of nutrient cycling. A growing group of scientists argue that the Anthropocene Epoch should follow the Holocene Epoch (11,700 years ago to the present) and begin in the year 1950. The name Anthropoceneis derived from Greek and means the “recent age of man.”