New Era: Scientists believe we are in the Anthropocene: “the age of man”

Humanity leaves such a clear mark on the planet that some scientists now believe that we are in a new era.

If researchers succeed in the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), the “Age of Man” will officially enter the history books from 1950.

According to the researchers, it is the traces of plutonium from nuclear weapons tests that define the proposed new era.

“Golden Nail” can be obtained

An era is one of five units of measurement Geological time scaleGeological time scaleThe geological time scale is a formal framework used to understand our planet’s 4.5 billion year history. Geologists divide years into five categories: eons, epochs, period, epochs, and ages.. Geological ages are usually marked with a “golden nail,” hammered into a layer of rock that defines the respective era.

Nails can also be driven in, for example stalagmites;stalagmites;Stalactites are icy stalactites that form in limestone caves. Stalactites grow upward from the cave floor, unlike stalactites that hang down from the ceiling. or ice core samples.

Now Lake Crawford in Canada has been suggested as a worthy recipient of such a nail. Out of nine candidates, the lake was voted as the birthplace of the Holocene.

The lake is not impressively large: its surface covers just over three football fields, but in turn it is unusually deep: about 24 meters.

According to Francine McCarthy, a professor of natural sciences at Brock University in Canada, the shape of the lake prevents surface and groundwater from mixing.

This makes it possible for the researchers to take cross-sections of the lake bottom, and in this way see the impact of human development year after year.

The bottom of the lake is completely cut off from the rest of the planet, except as it gently sinks in, you say CNN.

Strong evidence

However, researchers do not agree on whether there is a basis for determining “human age”.

An era in the geological sense that lasts up to 50 million years. If the proposal is implemented, the Holocene will be the shortest in history.

It is the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), made up of 35 researchers from various fields, that advances the proposal. Their purpose is to formalize a formal definition of the Anthropocene, or the age of man.

The group was formed in 2009.

Andrew Cundy is Professor of Environmental Radioactivity and a member of the Ad Hoc Working Group. It uses the potential of human power as an argument for the new age.

– The presence of plutonium is strong evidence of a time when humanity became so powerful that it could leave a unique imprint on the planet, he told CNN.

The concept of the Anthropocene was first broadcasted by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen in 2000 at a conference. Then to describe the profound human impact on the planet.

It will be decided next year

For the “Age of Man” to become a reality, the proposal must first gain the support of at least 60 percent of the Quaternary Stratigraphy subcommittee by summer.

The proposal can then be taken to the International Stratigraphy Committee, where it must also have the support of at least 60 percent of the members.

A final decision is expected in August 2024, at the annual conference on geology.

Both commissions are part of iugsiugsThe International Union of Geosciences, one of the largest non-governmental research organizations in the world..

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