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Anthropocene: its stratigraphic basis

Nature volume 541, page 289 (2017)Cite this article

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As officers of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG; J.Z. and C.W.) and chair of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS; M.J.H.) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), we note that the AWG has less power than Erle Ellis and colleagues imply (Nature 540, 192–193; 2016). Its role is merely advisory — to evaluate the Anthropocene as a formal unit in the geological timescale. Proposals must pass scrutiny by the AWG, the SQS and the ICS before being ratified by the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences.

The geological Anthropocene is not defined by holistic analysis of all human impacts on Earth, but by whether those impacts have produced suitable signals in the stratal record. Requirements include uniqueness, global extent, preservation potential and a synchronous base. A putative geological Anthropocene epoch would be nested within the Quaternary period, Cenozoic era and Phanerozoic eon. Myriad near-synchronous geological signatures in the stratigraphic record place its logical beginning in the mid-twentieth century, during the 'Great Acceleration' that marked a global increase in population, industrial activity and energy use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, UK

    Jan Zalasiewicz

  2. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, UK

    Colin Waters

  3. Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada

    Martin J. Head

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  1. Jan Zalasiewicz
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  2. Colin Waters
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  3. Martin J. Head
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Correspondence to Colin Waters.

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Zalasiewicz, J., Waters, C. & Head, M. Anthropocene: its stratigraphic basis. Nature 541, 289 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/541289b

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