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Geologists See Earth in New 'Anthropocene Age'

Posted Jan 24, 08 4:17 AM CST in Science & Health 

(Newser) – Humanity's impact on the planet over the last 200 years has been so vast that geologists are proposing to label it the start of a new geological era, Canada.com reports. Textbooks label these times as the Holocene era, which began 12,000 years ago, but scientists argue that carbon pollution, urbanization, nuclear fallout and other traces of human existence should mark the start of a  new epoch.

"We are now living in a new time period when the human modification of the system is so great that we need some way of recognizing that," said a member of a growing group of geologists calling for the present era to be labeled the "Anthropocene age." He said geologists could date it from carbon dioxide deposits—or the lingering radioactivity from the first nuclear tests.
Source: Canada.com

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The Holocene geological era began aroun 12,000 years ago and can be marked by evidence of meltwater lakes and gravel ridges left when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age.   ((c) anticline)
Geologists check out a cliff along the Acasta River north of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories near the Arctic Circle. The cliff exposes the oldest intact rocks ever found on Earth.   (KRT Photos)
A nuclear test in the South Pacific in the 1950s. Geologists say that traces of radioactivity from nuclear tests could mark the beginning of the new Anthropocene geological age.   (Archive Photos)
Sideling Hill Road Cut   ((c) Jeff Kubina)
A prominent group of geologists say that humanity's impact on the planet has been so colossal that the Industrial Revolution should mark the beginning of a new geological age - the Anthropocene era.   ((c) angela7dreams)
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