Stratigraphic and Earth System approaches to defining the Anthropocene release_ssxoqlaycfe5ha2pjwueag4znm

by Will Steffen, Reinhold Leinfelder, Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin Waters, Mark Williams, Colin Summerhayes, Anthony Barnosky, Alejandro Cearreta, Paul Crutzen, Matt Edgeworth, Erle Ellis, Ian Fairchild (+16 others)

Released as a article-journal by American Geophysical Union (AGU).

2016  

Abstract

Stratigraphy provides insights into the evolution and dynamics of the Earth System over its long history. With recent developments in Earth System science, changes in Earth System dynamics can now be observed directly and projected into the near future. An integration of the two approaches provides powerful insights into the nature and significance of contemporary changes to Earth. From both perspectives, the Earth has been pushed out of the Holocene Epoch by human activities, with the mid-20th century a strong candidate for the start date of the Anthropocene, the proposed new epoch in Earth history. Here we explore two contrasting scenarios for the future of the Anthropocene, recognizing that the Earth System has already undergone a substantial transition away from the Holocene state. A rapid shift of societies toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals could stabilize the Earth System in a state with more intense interglacial conditions than in the late Quaternary climate regime and with little further biospheric change. In contrast, a continuation of the present Anthropocene trajectory of growing human pressures will likely lead to biotic impoverishment and a much warmer climate with a significant loss of polar ice.
In text/plain format

Archived Files and Locations

application/pdf  1.2 MB
file_utxtnig2sjhajfrtcvkhpcvemm
web.archive.org (webarchive)
fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at (web)
Read Archived PDF
Preserved and Accessible
Type  article-journal
Stage   unknown
Year   2016
Work Entity
access all versions, variants, and formats of this works (eg, pre-prints)
Catalog Record
Revision: fdad8ec9-2172-482a-b5de-9fe6683704c7
API URL: JSON