For planet Earth, this might be the start of a new age.
A logging port near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 21, 2022.
If it makes it all the way, though, geology’s amended timeline would officially recognize that humankind’s effects on the planet had been so consequential as to bring the previous chapter of Earth’s history to a close. It would acknowledge that these effects will be discernible in the rocks for millenniums.“I teach the history of science — you know, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo,” said Francine McCarthy, an earth scientist at Brock University in Canada and member of the working group.
Martin J. Head, a working group member and earth scientist at Brock University, argues that declining to recognize the Anthropocene would have political reverberations, too. The geologic time scale divides Earth’s 4.6 billion-year story into grandly named chapters. Like nesting dolls, the chapters contain subchapters, which themselves contain sub-sub-chapters. From largest to smallest, the chapters are called eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages.
The early Cambrian Period, around 540 million years ago, saw Earth explode with an astonishing diversity of animal life, but its precise starting point has been contested for decades. A long controversy led to the redrawing of our current geologic period, the Quaternary, in 2009. After a yearslong hunt, the working group on Saturday finished voting on nine candidate sites for the Anthropocene. They represent the range of environments into which human effects are etched: a peat bog in Poland, the ice of the Antarctic Peninsula, a bay in Japan, a coral reef off the Louisiana coast.
Many scholars still aren’t sure the mid-20th century cutoff makes sense. It is awkwardly recent, especially for archaeologists and anthropologists who would have to start referring to World War II artifacts as “pre-Anthropocene.”
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How Chef Mario Carbone Built the Most Celebrity-Studded Restaurant on EarthFrom Leonardo DiCaprio, Rihanna, and Jay-Z to Kim Kardashian, Barack Obama, and secretive millionaires, it’s as if the rich and powerful simply are not aware that other places exist to get dinner. And it’s all thanks to this man.
Read more »
Three giant asteroids will have close encounter with Earth on Christmas DayThe three asteroids range in size, between that of a Boeing-777 and of a 50-story building.
Read more »
“Dead Bus” – NASA Retires InSight Mars Lander Mission After 4 Years on Red PlanetAfter more than four years on the Red Planet, NASA mission managers have concluded that the solar-powered InSight lander has run out of energy. NASA’s InSight mission has ended after collecting unique science on Mars for more than four years. Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labora
Read more »
“Boys Planet,” The Male Version Of “Girls Planet 999,” To Premiere Theme Song On “M Countdown” Next Week'BoysPlanet,' The Male Version Of 'Girls Planet 999,' To Premiere Theme Song On 'M Countdown' Next Week
Read more »
Marvel Confirms Planet of the Apes Creative Team for 2023 ComicBack in the summer Marvel Comics confirmed that they were returning to the Planet of the Apes [...]
Read more »
Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee #1 Preview: Just ImagineDC celebrates Stan Lee with new stories from his version of the DC Universe in this preview of Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee 1. comics dc
Read more »