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The Anthropocene Epoch Began With 1945 Atomic Bomb Test, Scientists Say
hypnosec writes: Scientists have proposed July 16, 1945 as the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch. That was the day of the first nuclear detonation test. They say "the Great Acceleration" — the period when human activities started having a significant impact on Earth – are a good mark of the beginning of the new epoch. Since then, there has been a significant increase in population, environmental upheaval on land and oceans, and global connectivity. The group says in their article (abstract), "The beginning of the nuclear age ... marks the historic turning point when humans first accessed an enormous new energy source – and is also a time level that can be effectively tracked within geological strata, using a variety of geological clues."
The Anthropocene Epoch ended when the Bad Slashdot Style Epoch began after the following style code was introduced:
#comments { clear:both; display:block; position:relative; padding: 0; margin: 0 0 0 122px; padding-right: 1.5em;z-index:1;}
Get rid of the 122px left margin--it's wasting a lot of space.
Yes, but they're talking about detectability of a time marker in Earth history. Post-1945 or so it is easy to detect radioisotopes in sediments being deposited world-wide.
Also... from TFAbstract, they chose the date because all of the nuclear explosions have left a clear marker of radioisotopes which can be easily located when tracing the geological record.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
the detonation of the atomic bomb is a perfectly reasonable way to mark the beginning of a new epoch, because there is a very real and easily identifiable geologic marker for that event (radioactive isotopes & plastic in the topsoil.) if millions of years from now aliens discovered our planet and looked through geological data, and wanted to classify periods based on that data, it's a safe bet that the sudden proliferation of radioactive isotopes and appearance of an entirely new substance (plastic) would be something that they noticed.
as for the necessity of defining a new epoch - would you deny that humans have profoundly changed the planet? no value judgements being made here, just straight facts, the planet is WAY FUCKING DIFFERENT than it was 1000 years ago due to human population explosions and human construction. also, lots of newly-extinct species.
but, i at least agree with you about nuclear power being the solution to a lot of our problems, if we would stop being such pussies about it. that has nothing to do with the topic at hand, though.
Yeah, it'd be like using Latin for scientific terminology today.
You're thinking of the Spankocene Era.
i get a statistic that in 2013, china produced approximately 1 coal plant a week.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
unless we are talking about may 17, 2013. for that time period, china did apparently produce 1 coal plant a day.
i don't even know why i feel the need to argue this though. it has little to do with the topic. i just can't fight the urge to look up statistics. i think there's something wrong with me.
Unf. NN grrr mgrgrlrgl. Snarf? Brrrp. Fapfapfap. Queeeeg! Ook.
You sound like my niece.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
And like my knees.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Also... from TFAbstract, they chose the date because all of the nuclear explosions have left a clear marker of radioisotopes which can be easily located when tracing the geological record.
And importantly, this will be true globally. This seems to be what most posters here seem to be ignoring... A hundred thousand years from now you'll probably be able to dig into the ground and identify this epoch anywhere on Earth where the rocks are old enough by the distinct atomic decay signature, among other things.
E pluribus unum
nice try but coal from the industrial age also threw heavy radioisotopes into the air, starting centuries ago