Are we living in a new geological era?? At the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU
Are we living in a new geological era?? At the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), geologists are debating if we are living in a new geologic time. The Anthropocene, a term coined by ecologist Eugene Stoermer, comes from the Greek anthropo- meaning ‘human’ and –cene meaning ‘new’. There is no doubt that humans have been, and are continuously changing the environments in which we live. From the combustion of hydrocarbons and the mining of minerals, to deforestation and landfills, the traces of us are in the geologic record. The debate centers not on if we’re living in the Anthropocene, but where to draw the line. Some geologists say the line should be drawn at the onset of agriculture, but this did not arise around the world at the same time. Others say to draw the line at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, where massive industry was releasing chemicals and other pollutants not seen elsewhere in the geologic record. So the question still remains, are we in a new geologic era? I think Anthony Brown, of the University of Southampton in the UK, said it best, “In the absence of time travel, we have to work out whether we really have enough to define a new geological period”. —Adam Photo: CALTRANS Further Reading:http://www.livescience.com/25332-anthropocene-humans-geologic-era.htmlhttp://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/kolbert-text -- source link
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