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This article was first published onÌýÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê News

In a joint press conference last week with theÌý, theÌýÌýannounced Crawford Lake, Canada as the proposedÌýGlobal boundaryÌýStratotypeÌýSection and Point (GSSP)Ìýcandidate site of the Anthropocene series. SelectingÌýCrawford Lake marks a significant step in the AWG’s effortÌýto test the geological validity of the Anthropocene hypothesis and towards the scientific, and thereby also political and social recognition of the scale and severity of planetary transformation processes unleashed byÌýindustrialized humanity.

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Context

Members of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Geography have been pivotal in this process.ÌýFrom 2019ÌýDr Simon TurnerÌýhas acted as scientific coordinator for this international collaborative project of the AWG, HKW and theÌý,Ìýexploring the cultural and scientific dimensions of this proposed new epoch. He is also Secretary of the Anthropocene Working Group.

With support from the Haus der Kulturen der WeltÌý(HKW),ÌýtheÌýteam from Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Geography (EmeritusÌýProfessor Neil Rose,ÌýDr Sarah RobertsÌý[now at CEH Wallingford],ÌýDr Lucy Roberts andÌýDr Handong Yang) processed samples from the sites for key measurements of natural and artificial radionuclides (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Radiometric Facility) and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) which are evidence ofÌýhigh temperatureÌýof fossil fuel combustion and a key marker of the proposed Anthropocene. One aspect of this work on SCPsÌýhas beenÌýthe first discovery of these particles in anÌý.

Background

A prerequisite for the recognition of a new unit of the chronostratigraphic time scale is the identification and description of a geological profileÌýindicatingÌýthe onset of planetary-scale change, aÌýGlobal boundaryÌýStratotypeÌýSection and Point (GSSP). Since 2019, the AWG has coordinated a systematic study at twelve different sites across the globe,ÌýrepresentingÌýdifferent environmental archives, for geological evidence of the proposed Anthropocene series in strata and its equivalent in time the Anthropocene epoch. After months of deliberations and a series of votes, the AWG now proposes a sediment core from the bottom of Crawford Lake (Ontario, Canada) as host of the GSSP candidate site of the Anthropocene series. The research findings of Crawford LakeÌýprovideÌýstrong evidenceÌýfor the AWG’s hypothesis that the unprecedentedÌýincrease in industrial and socioeconomic activity of the Great Acceleration around the mid-twentieth century has caused alterations to the Earth System on a scale thatÌýterminatedÌý~11,700 years ofÌýlargely stableÌýHolocene conditions and marks the beginning of a new Earth epoch.

Next Steps

The full proposal of the AWG needs to be agreed and voted on by the AWG before it is presented to theÌýSubcommissionÌýon Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) later this summer 2023. Members of the SQS will need to vote on the proposal and if they agree with a 60% majority it will then pass on to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) who will also have to vote and agree with a 60% majority for the proposal to move onwards to the International Union of Geological sciences (IUGS) for consideration of final ratification. There is no guarantee following AWG submission to the SQS the proposal will indeed succeed. However, the results of the AWG’s multi-year study mark both aÌýsubstantialÌýstep forward in the formalization process of the Anthropocene epoch and constitute a major scientific achievement in recognizing the fundamental impact that human activities have inflicted on the planet.

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• For more information about this story, please contactÌýDr Simon Turner