Scientists propose Anthropocene epoch, showing human impact on Earth

The geological history of the Earth can be categorized as epochs spanning millions of years. A group of scientists announced Tuesday that we entered a new epoch in the mid-20th century, called the Anthropocene epoch, after they studied sediment at the bottom of Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada.

What is an epoch?
Each epoch usually begins with significant geological changes like asteroid strikes, volcanoes, etc. that are found etched into rocks, sediment or ice. We have been in the Holocene epoch for the last 11,700 years.

Anthropocene epoch
A panel of scientists say the lake’s mud shows “evidence of humankind’s influence on the global geologic record,” according to the New York Times. Hence it is called Anthropocene, derived from the Greek words for ‘human’ and ‘new’.

Scientists claim the Anthropocene epoch started between 1950 and 1954, after the advent of industrialization, atom bombs, fossil fuels, and plastics. 

But
Considering the world’s 4.5 billion-year history, is 70-plus years of human impact on Earth enough to get an epoch of its own?

Several geologists don’t think so.

For now, the Anthropocene epoch is just a proposal. The International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Union of Geological Sciences will decide if it is officially an epoch.