A Canadian Lake Holds the Key to the Beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch

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 that have explored their nature and relevance.

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’s 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.

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 that have explored their nature and relevance.

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’s 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.

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 that have explored their nature and relevance.

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’s 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.