{"id":6736,"date":"2023-07-26T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=6736"},"modified":"2023-07-14T06:53:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T06:53:27","slug":"a-canadian-lake-holds-the-key-to-the-beginning-of-the-anthropocene-a-new-geological-epoch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/a-canadian-lake-holds-the-key-to-the-beginning-of-the-anthropocene-a-new-geological-epoch\/","title":{"rendered":"A Canadian lake holds the key to the beginning of the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Canada\u2019s Crawford Lake, in Ontario, was chosen for its pristine sediment record.\n SF photo\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nAlejandro Cearreta<\/a>, Universidad del Pa\u00eds Vasco \/ Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n

Are we really living in the Anthropocene, the geological time marked by the global impact of human activity? And if so, when did it begin?<\/p>\n\n

These are questions that the Anthropocene Working Group<\/a> \u2013 established in 2009 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy<\/a> to propose a definition of the concept and to estimate its potential as a unit of geologic time \u2013 is hoping to answer.<\/p>\n\n

The group announced on July 11, 2023<\/a>, that Lake Crawford in Ontario, Canada, had been chosen as the site with the sedimentary record that would be used to define the beginning of the Anthropocene. <\/p>\n\n

What makes this site so special that it holds the dividing line between different geological epochs?<\/p>\n\n

The footprint of the Great Acceleration<\/h2>\n\n

Since its formation, the Anthropocene Working Group has evaluated various types of physical, chemical and biological evidence preserved in sediments and rocks, and it has published numerous scientific papers<\/a> that have explored their nature and relevance. <\/p>\n\n

These studies have concluded that the Anthropocene is significant on a geologic scale because of the rapidity and magnitude of recent human impacts on processes operating on the Earth\u2019s surface. Many of these impacts have generated irreversible changes that exceed the small range of natural variability of the Holocene, which began 11,700 years ago.<\/p>\n\n

In the geologic strata, the Anthropocene Working Group has identified a significant set of indicators that coincide with the so-called \u201cGreat Acceleration<\/a>\u201d of the mid-20th century, driven by an unprecedented increase in human population, energy consumption, industrialization and globalization following the end of World War II. These include the following:<\/p>\n\n