Welcome to the "Anthropocene"—a new epoch in Earth's 4.5 billion year history. Thanks to the colossal changes humans have made since the mid-20th century, Earth has now entered a distinct age from the Holocene epoch, which started 11,700 years ago as the ice age thawed. That's according to an argument made by a team of scientists from the Anthropocene Working Group. Scientists say an epoch ends following an event—like the asteroid that demolished the dinosaurs and ended the late Cretaceous Epoch 66million years ago—that altered the underlying rock and sedimentary layers so significantly that its remnants can be observed across the globe. In a paper published this week titled, "The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene," the researches presented evidence for why they think mankind's marks over the recent past ushered in a new geological time period.
Care should be taken to distinguish the concept of an "Anthropocene" from the previously used term "Anthropogene" which generally refers to the Quarternary (the second period of the Cenozoic era, which began about 2 million years ago).
The Antropocene is being considered as a potential geological epoch, i.e. at the same hierarchical level as the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, with the implication that it is within the Quarternary Period, but that the Holocene has terminated. To be so-accepted "Anthropocene" needs to be scientifically justified (i.e. the geological signal currently being produced in strata now forming must be sufficiently large, clear and distinctive) and (b) useful as a formal term to the scientific community. In terms of (b), the currently informal term "Anthropocene" has already proven to be very useful to the global change research community and thus will continue to be used, but it remains to be determined whether formalization within the Geological Time Scale would make it more useful or broaden its usefulness to other scientific communities, such as the geological community.
The beginning of the "Anthropocene" is most generally considered to be c. 1800 CE (formerly AD), or about 216 years ago, around the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Other potential candidates for time boundaries have been suggested, at both earlier dates (within of even before the Holocene) or later (at the start of the nuclear age). A formal "Anthropocene" might be defined either with reference to a particular point with a stratal section, that is a Global Stratigraphic Section and Point (GSSP), colloquially known as a "golden spike;" or by a designated time boundary (a Global Standard Stratigraphic Age).
8 Indicators of the Anthropocene
1. Modern Agriculture
In the last century, fertilizers used in crop production doubled the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil. Signals of these chemicals found within lake strata are now at their highest levels in the past 100,000 years.
2. Aluminum
Rarely found in its native form before the 1800s, global production of aluminum has increased by 98% since the 1950s.
3. Concrete
Pervasive since World War II, concrete is now the world's primary building material. The amount produced in the last 20 years is enough to cover each square foot of the planet with three ounces of concrete.
4. Plastic
The amount of plastic produced each year weighs roughly as much as all humans on Earth combined. Some is recycled, but most gets discarded to landfills, roadsides, or ends up in the ocean. Plastics, along with aluminum and concrete, decay very slowly and will leave behind identifiable fossils, called "technofossils" in the geological record.
5. Nuclear Fallout
Fallout from thermonuclear weapons detonated in the mid-20th century generated clear signals of carbon-14 and plutonium-239 across Earth that will be detectable in sediments and ice for at least 100,000 years.
6. Landfills
Materials disposed in landfills and used in construction and mining have introduced the greatest number of new minerals to the environment since the Great Oxygenation Event 2.3 billion years ago.
7. Urban Structures
Humans have transformed more than half of Earth's land surface with buildings, roads, mines, farms and landfills, among other uses.
8. Dams
In the past 60 years, large dams have been constructed worldwide at a rate of one per day. Each will last for 50 to 200 years, interrupting the flow of sediments to the ocean and disrupting the formation of rock layers.
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Wes Morgan
Goal picks the English Premier League (EPL) player of the week after the last two Gameweek fixtures. This time it's Leicester captain and defensive rock Wes Morgan.
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First, we don't like to think too much. Please, please. . . make the story linear. Second. No one wants to see anymore than they have to of Tobias Menzies and everyone wants to see a lot more of Sam Heughan (like in Season 1). That said, after a rocky start they did seem to get back to the chronological telling of the story, which is what we all want.
Wes Morgan
Goal picks the English Premier League (EPL) player of the week after the last two Gameweek fixtures. This time it's Leicester captain and defensive rock Wes Morgan.
Outlander Season 2 Review
First, we don't like to think too much. Please, please. . . make the story linear. Second. No one wants to see anymore than they have to of Tobias Menzies and everyone wants to see a lot more of Sam Heughan (like in Season 1). That said, after a rocky start they did seem to get back to the chronological telling of the story, which is what we all want.
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