Has Earth entered the Anthropocene epoch ?

[spud the mackem]

Whatever age we are in at the moment, we are all still swimming around in a barrel of crap.

[Ealdwita]

Whatever age we are in at the moment, we are all still swimming around in a barrel of crap.

That's a thought......Why don't we just call it the SEWage! Boom-boom!

[Frank Merton]

Maybe in the end geology will create three major divisions -- pre-life, post-life, and human. That will be something for scientists a million or so years from now to decide.

At the moment I get the feeling the objective here is to emphasize (and maybe over-emphasize) the human effect. This may be accurate but also sounds political.

(I find myself in the awkward position of not wanting to downplay human effects since I think they are real and serious, but at the same time wanting to keep politics out of science).

[Imaginarynumber1]

For those who seem a little confused about geological time scales:

We determine the boundaries, based upon what we find in the geological layers. Could be that trilobite fossils appear, or dinosaur fossils no longer appear. Ice sheet advances and retreats, large geological events, eutherian mammal fossils appear, primate fossil first appear, etc.

edit: added larger images

Edited October 19, 2014 by Imaginarynumber1

[Frank Merton]

Could you provide your link: I'd love to have that in my bookmarks.

[Imaginarynumber1]

Could you provide your link: I'd love to have that in my bookmarks.

I just went to google and searched "geological time" and went to the images.

https://www.google.com/search?q=geological+time&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JjpEVJCDMpe3yASh4ICIAw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=799

[Frank Merton]

Now I coulda done that!

[Imaginarynumber1]

Now I coulda done that!

But you didn't, Frank.

You didn't.

[woopypooky]

Does it matter?

[Mr Supertypo]

Didint they post this last year already or am I mistaken?

[MidnightLady]

I have no idea what that means. I could do the research but I don't want to. I will take an incomplete in this class.

Edited October 21, 2014 by MidnightLady

[Doug1029]

So, while it might be reasonable to say this is the Anthropocene Age, it cannot be classified as a new epoch unless the geology actually exhibits distinct change.

A type locality for the Anthropocene has not been designated. As of right now, it is not a recognized epoch. However, that could change at any time. Waters et al. (2014) propose 1945 as the beginning of the Holocene as several climate and geologic indicators maximize at about that time.

Doug

Waters, C. N., J. A. Zalasiewicz, M. Williams, M. A. Ellis, A. M. Snelling. 2014. A stratigraphical basis for the Anthropocene? Geological Society of London, Special Publications 2014 (395) 1-21.

[Ealdwita]

Waters, C. N., J. A. Zalasiewicz, M. Williams, M. A. Ellis, A. M. Snelling. 2014. A stratigraphical basis for the Anthropocene? Geological Society of London, Special Publications 2014 (395) 1-21.

I shall rush out and purchase a copy first thing in the morning. Please don't tell me how it ends.

[Frank Merton]

It seems to me this is political (a bit of environmentalist propaganda), not scientific, although poorly camouflaged. It's the sort of thing that could then be used to "prove" to grade schoolers how mankind is ruining the planet.

[Doug1029]

A type locality for the Anthropocene has not been designated. As of right now, it is not a recognized epoch. However, that could change at any time. Waters et al. (2014) propose 1945 as the beginning of the Holocene as several climate and geologic indicators maximize at about that time.

Doug

Waters, C. N., J. A. Zalasiewicz, M. Williams, M. A. Ellis, A. M. Snelling. 2014. A stratigraphical basis for the Anthropocene? Geological Society of London, Special Publications 2014 (395) 1-21.

That should say "...the beginning of the Anthropocene..."

Doug

[Doug1029]

It seems to me this is political (a bit of environmentalist propaganda), not scientific, although poorly camouflaged. It's the sort of thing that could then be used to "prove" to grade schoolers how mankind is ruining the planet.

There are several scientific studies out suggesting dates and definitions for the beginning of the Anthropocene. At this time, however, the geology professional societies have not adopted any of them.

Doug

[Doug1029]

I shall rush out and purchase a copy first thing in the morning. Please don't tell me how it ends.

It's a research paper. If you have an .edu site, you can download it for free. You may get it for free anyway. Just have to try and see.

Doug