From the Holocene, which started with the ice age 11,700 years ago, to the new Anthropocene age. So where is the milestone of this period called the age of humanity? Australia, Antarctica and Canada are just a few of the places considered…
In a matter of weeks, geologists will settle on the most conclusive evidence of how humanity has changed the Earth’s surface structure. It will be clear in which location the most obvious traces of the transition to the new Anthropocene period, the end of the Holocene geological age, are located. The Holocene epoch began 11,700 years ago with the end of the last ice age and thus the melting of the great glaciers that covered the earth’s surface. Thus began the relentless scattering of humanity on the planet’s surface and the development of civilization.
The new age Anthropocene has already begun
This sudden spread of Homo sapiens, that is, modern humans, also brought geological traces and results. The minerals we extract from the soil, the gases we release by burning fossil fuels, and the radioactive materials we produce have begun to make radical changes in the Earth’s geology. For this reason, many scientists think that the Holocene has now ended and instead began the so-called Anthropocene, with a decision to recognize humans as the first to influence the planet.
Where is the clearest proof that you started?
Regarding the start date of the Anthropocene, most scholars point to the years following World War II, when countries around the world entered into an enormous economic and industrial expansion called the great momentum. But exactly where the beginning of this new era should be commemorated has not yet been decided. A list of nine sites, including coral reefs in Australia, alluvial layers in Canada, and ice cores excavated from Antarctica, were candidates last year by the Anthropocene Study Group as the best indicators of this change. Members’ votes are currently in the counting phase. By the end of 2023, a shortlist for evaluation will be created and a process is expected to begin, requiring three other institutions to support the selected candidate.
The location chosen in the vote will then be marked with a brass plaque used to identify areas that reveal changes in strata that mark the beginning of a new era. One such plaque, located on a mountainside at Monte San Nicola in the Apulia region of Italy, celebrates the beginning of the Pleistocene 2.6 million years ago, the forerunner of the Holocene.
The amount of aluminum is one of these indicators
Jan Zalasiewicz, a professor of geology at the University of Leicester, said: “There is no doubt that humanity now plays an important role in influencing the geology of our planet. The real question is: Where can we best observe these changes?” made a statement. According to Zalasiewicz, who adds that one of the most important examples of the effects of humans on the geology of our planet is aluminum, even the amount of processed aluminum is an indicator that will make alien visitors aware of humanity if humanity goes extinct in the future.
However, the emergence of metallic aluminum isn’t the only sign of the Anthropocene. Another example is the element plutonium. This element, which was rare until the birth of the atomic age, is now in an amount easily detectable when nuclear bombs tested in the Atmosphere scatter plutonium on the planet’s surface.
Earth’s biology homogenized
Another clear indication that we are entering a new geological era are species that we are helping to spread around the world, homogenizing Earth’s biology in the process. Examples include the Pacific oyster and the zebra mussel; the latter spread through water discharged by large ships from Eurasia and replaced native shellfish in much of the planet, including North America.
“Advanced species will find our tracks on Earth”
Another of these indicators is the amount of plastic that can now be easily detected on the planet’s surface. It is certain that humanity has moved into the Anthropocene epoch, as Zalasiewicz says, “In the distant future, tens of millions of years from now, advanced species will be able to detect how we changed the Earth. We need to realize this now. All of our buildings and roads will have been turned to dust long before then, but the changes we make to the sediments will remain there, demonstrating that a global civilization once dominated this planet to such an extent that it had lasting effects.”