From climate change to species loss and pollution, humans have etched their impact on Earth with such strength and permanence since the 1950s, that a special team of scientists says a new geologic …
From climate change to species loss and pollution, humans have etched their impact on Earth with such strength and permanence since the middle of the 20th century that a special team of scientists says a new geologic epoch began then.
“It’s quite clear that the scale of change has intensified unbelievably and that has to be human impact,” said University of Leicester geologist Colin Waters, who chaired the Anthropocene Working Group. The group aims to determine a specific start date of the Anthropocene by measuring plutonium levels at the bottom of Crawford Lake.
Crawford Lake, which is 79 feet deep and 258,333 square feet in area, was chosen over 11 other sites because the annual effects of human activity on the earth’s soil, atmosphere and biology are so clearly preserved in its layers of sediment. Scientists believe the lake’s exceptionally well-preserved sediment layers serve as a reference point for a proposed new geological chapter in the planet’s history, defined by the considerable changes wrought by human activity: the Anthropocene.The scientific working group is proposing that Anthropocene Epoch followed the Holocene Epoch, which started about 11,700 years ago at the end of an ice age.
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