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The Anthropocene within the Geological Time Scale: a response to fundamental questions

  • Jan Zalasiewicz
  • , Martin J. Head
  • , Colin N. Waters
  • , Simon D. Turner
  • , Peter K. Haff
  • , Colin Summerhayes
  • , Mark Williams
  • , Alejandro Cearreta
  • , Michael Wagreich
  • , Ian Fairchild
  • , Neil L. Rose
  • , Yoshiki Saito
  • , Reinhold Leinfelder
  • , Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł
  • , Zhisheng An
  • , Jaia Syvitski
  • , Agnieszka Gałuszka
  • , Francine M.G. McCarthy
  • , Juliana Ivar do Sul
  • , Anthony Barnosky
  • Andrew B. Cundy, J. R. McNeill, Jens Zinke
  • University of Leicester
  • Brock University
  • University College London
  • Duke University
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of the Basque Country
  • University of Vienna
  • University of Birmingham
  • Shimane University
  • Free University of Berlin
  • Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
  • CAS - Institute of Earth Environment
  • University of Colorado Boulder
  • Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce
  • Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • University of Southampton
  • Georgetown University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Anthropocene as a prospective new, ongoing series/ epoch must be defensible against all relevant concerns. We address the seven, still-relevant challenges posed to the Anthropocene Working Group by the Chair, International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), in 2014. (1) Concept or reality? The Anthropocene possesses a substantial, sharply distinctive stratigraphic record recognisable through many proxy signals from the mid-20th century onwards; (2) GSSP or GSSA? The Anthropocene can be defined by a GSSP and correlated globally; (3) Past or future? The Anthropocene unquestionably represents geological time, its transformations having already moved the Earth System beyond Holocene norms towards an irreversible future trajectory; (4) Utility? The Anthropocene's distinctive material content allows useful delineation on geological sections/ maps; (5) Indelibility? Many of the Anthropocene's transformative effects cannot be subsequently effaced or overprinted; (6) Fit within the Geological Time Scale (GTS)? The Anthropocene represents a unique, youngest, interval in Earth history and strata of profound significance; (7) What is its value? The chronostratigraphic Anthropocene has conceptual usefulness even informally, but would then lack the clarity, stability and recognition that formalization provides. Without its formalization, the GTS would no longer accurately reflect Earth history, diminishing the relevance of geological science for analysis of ongoing planetary change.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)65-83
Number of pages19
JournalEpisodes
Volume47
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes

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