Journal
NATURE
Volume 519, Issue 7542, Pages 171-180Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/nature14258
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Funding
- European Research Council (T-FORCES)
- Philip Leverhulme Prize award
- Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award
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Time is divided by geologists according to marked shifts in Earth's state. Recent global environmental changes suggest that Earth may have entered a new human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Here we review the historical genesis of the idea and assess anthropogenic signatures in the geological record against the formal requirements for the recognition of a new epoch. The evidence suggests that of the various proposed dates two do appear to conform to the criteria to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene: 1610 and 1964. The formal establishment of an Anthropocene Epoch would mark a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and the Earth system.
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