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Scientists believe new epoch started in 1950s

By Ninian Carter

July 14, 2023 - A team of scientists believe a new epoch should be added to the geological time scale beginning in the 1950s – dubbed the Anthropocene – due to mankind’s enormous impact on the Earth.

A team of scientists think a new epoch should be added to the geological time scale beginning in the 1950s.

Called the Anthropocene (from the Greek for “human” and “new”), the proposed epoch started between 1950 and 1954 when humans began impacting the world by burning fossil fuels, detonating nuclear weapons and dumping fertilisers and plastics into the environment.

A key indicator of these actions can be measured at Crawford Lake, near Toronto in Canada, where the annual effects of human activity on the soil, atmosphere and biology are preserved in its layers of sediment.

Scientists aim to determine a specific start date of the Anthropocene by measuring plutonium levels at the bottom of the lake.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 14/07/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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