The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time characterised by humans

given by Prof. Mark Williams (University of Leicester).

Abstract:

The Holocene Epoch was a time of growing human population, urbanisation, agriculture and industry. But over the past 200 years, and especially since the 1950s, the human footprint on the Earth has grown very substantially. Thus, human population grew from circa 1 billion in 1800 to 2 billion in 1930. In 1950 it was about 2.5 billion and then nearly 8 billion in 2022. Through this interval of time there has been a rapidly increasing, though very uneven, demand for the Earth’s resources that has left a clear geological signal in sedimentary deposits. These identify a fundamental change to the Earth System, and the record of this is being discussed as a proposed new epoch of geological time that succeeds the Holocene. This is the Anthropocene and its boundary may be placed in deposits forming in the mid-20^th century. The Anthropocene challenges us about our place in the Earth System, and about our unsustainable use of resources. It has also been the catalysis for developing transdisciplinary solutions to the many environmental problems we now face.

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