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Scientists have identified the geological site that they say best reflects a proposed new epoch called the Anthropocene — a major step toward changing the official timeline of Earth’s history.
The term Anthropocene, first proposed in 2000 to reflect how profoundly human activity has altered the world, has become a commonly used academic buzzword uniting different fields of study.
“When it’s 8 billion people all having an impact on the planet, there’s bound to be a repercussion,” said Colin Waters, an honorary professor at the Geography, Geology, and the Environment School at the University of Leicester and chair of the Anthropocene Working Group.
“We’ve moved into this new Earth state and that should be defined by a new geological epoch,” Waters added.
The AWG, a group currently comprised of 35 geologists, has been working since 2009 to make the Anthropocene part of Earth’s official timeline. The group determined in 2016 that the Anthropocene epoch began around 1950 — the start of the era of nuclear weapons tests, the geochemical traces of which can be found around the world. Since then, the researchers have considered 12 sites that could provide the key piece of evidence needed to support their proposal, nine of which were put to a vote.
On Tuesday, the scientists announced the geological site — Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada — that best captures the geological impact of the Anthropocene, according to their research.
However, not everyone agrees the Anthropocene is a geological reality — or that researchers have enough evidence to formally declare it a new epoch.
Dividing up deep time
The geologic time scale provides the official framework for our understanding of Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history. Geologists break down our planet’s history into eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages — with an eon being the largest chunk of time and an age the shortest.
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Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, is the geological site that best reflects a new epoch recognizing the impact of human activity on Earth, said geologists of the Antrhopocene Working Group.
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