Defining the Anthropocene
Nature
Format:
Journal Article
Publication Date:
2015/03//
Pages:
171 - 180
Sources ID:
81141
Collection:
Anthropocene and the Environmental Future
Visibility:
Public (group default)
Abstract:
(Show)
Time is divided by geologists according to marked shifts in Earth’s state. Recent global environmental changes suggest that Earth may have entered a new human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Here we review the historical genesis of the idea and assess anthropogenic signatures in the geological record against the formal requirements for the recognition of a new epoch. The evidence suggests that of the various proposed dates two do appear to conform to the criteria to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene: 1610 and 1964. The formal establishment of an Anthropocene Epoch would mark a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and the Earth system.