A New Epoch?

[Reaper]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3292050.ece

 

 

Human impact on the world has been so comprehensive that it has ushered in a new geological epoch' date=' which scientists have called the Anthropocene era.

 

 

The Earth is still officially in the Holocene epoch, which began 11,750 years ago with climate changes that marked the end of the last ice age but geologists now suggest that a successor to the Holocene has started because of the changes wrought since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

 

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Professor Richard Alley, of Pennsylvania State University in the United States, supported the idea. “In land, water, air, ice and ecosystems, the human impact is clear, large and growing. [b']A geologist from the far distant future almost surely would draw a new line, and begin using a new name where and when our impacts show up,” he said.[/b]

 

What do you guys make of this?

 

Oh, and here's a jpeg image that shows all the various epoches from the distant past to today: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00276/an385_276938a.jpg

[CDarwin]

A lot of scientists don't even like the holocene, they put us still in the Pleistocene. I don't see us splitting again after only 10,000 years. It's dubious that future geologists would even be able to discern such a short time period.

[vampares]

Farming is sort of a way of "covering our tracks". I can see the geological impact this would have. It is more of a disruption than a real epoch. The climate change would have a real impact, even if it is small. The industrial revolution is somewhat dubious. Defoliation is also a disruption. The widespread paving and concrete foundation is going to be quite tricky to dig though!