Humans are unique compared to other species on Earth. Humans
have massive effect on Planet Earth and that’s why researchers consider that we
fit in our own geological age, and it seems like they have lastly settled for
this and they agreed that when the so-called “Anthropocene” began – 1950,
marked by the rapid growth in plutonium debris left behind by nuclear weapons
testing at the initial time of the Cold War.
The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), an institution consist
of researchers and academics from all around the world, lately supported on
five distinct motions connecting to the presently uncertain geological time
period, with 34 out of 35 members agreeing that there is enough proof to settle
the Anthropocene is noticeable at high resolution in the geological record.
The AWG said in a statement:
“Human impact has left discernible traces on the stratigraphic record for thousands of years. However, substantial and approximately globally synchronous changes to the Earth System most clearly intensified in the Great Acceleration of the mid-20th century. The mid-20th century also coincides with the clearest and most distinctive array of signals imprinted upon recently deposited strata. Hence, the mid-20th century represents the optimal beginning of a potential Anthropocene Epoch.”
Eventually, 30 affiliates of the AWG decided the
Anthropocene must be made official, with just three in contradiction of the
motion and two abstention.
It has also been concluded that the time period will be
an “Epoch”, which means that it is a lengthier than an Age, but not as long as
a Period. For instance, the Maastrichtian Age is the very last section of the
Late Cretaceous, the last chapter in the history of the non-avian dinosaurs. In
this situation, the Cretaceous is the Period, and the Late Cretaceous is the
Epoch.
Currently, we are in the Quaternary Period, and inside
this, we are in the Holocene Epoch, which initiated 11,700 years ago when the
glaciers started to hideaway and the world warmed. Quaternary Period will now
change to the Anthropocene Epoch, which will last about tens of millions of
years.
To it official, a particular rock unit will prerequisite
to be discovered and picked as comprising the “golden spike” – an assembly of
signals, counting the primary signal, which evidently marks the start of the
Anthropocene.
