anthropocene
Sign in to saveAnthropocene is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to accelerating geophysical and biochemical changes that characterize the 20th and 21st centuries on Earth. Originally a proposal for a new geological epoch following the Holocene, it was rejected as such in 2024 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).
AI overview
The Anthropocene is a term describing the period when humans have become a major force shaping Earth's geology and environment, used especially to discuss rapid changes in the planet's physical and chemical systems during the 20th and 21st centuries. Although scientists originally proposed it as a formal new geological epoch, this classification was rejected in 2024 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Union of Geological Sciences, though the term continues to appear in scientific and social discussions.
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Key facts
- Geologic timespan.name
- Anthropocene
- Geologic timespan.manual_color
- FFFFFF
- Geologic timespan.time_start
- 0.000076
- Geologic timespan.time_end
- 0
- Geologic timespan.image_map
- File:Earth's City Lights by DMSP, 1994-1995 (large).jpg
- Geologic timespan.caption_map
- The invention of electric lights has allowed massive human population centers to be seen from low Earth orbit, demonstrating how humanity's impacts are visible at a global scale.
- Geologic timespan.timeline
- Anthropocene
- Geologic timespan.celestial_body
- Earth
- Geologic timespan.usage
- Proposed but rejected subdivision of the Quaternary Period
- Geologic timespan.timescales_used
- ICS Time Scale
- Geologic timespan.chrono_unit
- Epoch
Article
28 sectionsContents
- Development of the concept
- Anthropocene Working Group
- Rejection in 2024 vote by IUGS
- Proposed starting point
- Industrial Revolution
- Mid-20th century (Great Acceleration)
- First atomic bomb (1945)
- Minimum atmospheric methane concentration
- Etymology
- Nature of human effects
- Biodiversity loss
- Biogeography and nocturnality
- Climate change
- Geomorphology
- Stratigraphy
- Sedimentological record
- Fossil record
- Trace elements
- Anthropocene markers
- Debates
- "Early anthropocene" model
- Homogenocene
- Society and culture
- Humanities
- Popular culture
- See also
- References
- External links
Anthropocene is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to accelerating geophysical and biochemical changes that characterize the 20th and 21st centuries on Earth. Originally a proposal for a new geological epoch following the Holocene, it was rejected as such in 2024 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).
The term has been used in sophisticated research relating to Earth's water and salt, geology, geomorphology, landscape, limnology, hydrology, ecosystems and climate. The effects of human activities on Earth can be seen, for example, in regards to biodiversity loss, and climate change. Various start dates for the Anthropocene have been proposed, ranging from the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution (12,000–15,000 years ago), to as recently as the 1960s. The biologist Eugene F. Stoermer is credited with first coining and using the term anthropocene informally in the 1980s; Paul J. Crutzen re-invented and popularized the term.