Colonization of the Americas, ‘little ice age’ climate, and bombproduced carbon
- Author(s)
- Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin N. Waters, Anthony D. Barnosky, Alejandro Cearreta, Matt Edgeworth, Erle C. Ellis, Agnieszka Gałuszka, Philip L. Gibbard, Jacques Grinevald, Irka Hajdas, Juliana Ivar Do Sul, Catherine Jeandel, Reinhold Leinfelder, J. R. McNeill, Clément Poirier, Andrew Revkin, Daniel De B Richter, Will Steffen, Colin Summerhayes, James P M Syvitski, Davor Vidas, Michael Wagreich, Mark Williams, Alexander P. Wolfe
- Abstract
A recently published analysis by Lewis and Maslin (Lewis SL and Maslin MA (2015) Defining the Anthropocene. Nature 519: 171-180) has identified two new potential horizons for the Holocene-Anthropocene boundary: 1610 (associated with European colonization of the Americas), or 1964 (the peak of the excess radiocarbon signal arising from atom bomb tests). We discuss both of these novel suggestions, and consider that there is insufficient stratigraphic basis for the former, whereas placing the latter at the peak of the signal rather than at its inception does not follow normal stratigraphical practice. Wherever the boundary is eventually placed, it should be optimized to reflect stratigraphical evidence with the least possible ambiguity.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Geology
- External organisation(s)
- University of Leicester, British Geological Survey, University of the Basque Country, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, University of Cambridge, Hochschulinstitut für internationale Studien und Entwicklung (IHEID), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS-Brazil), Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Georgetown University, Université Paris VI - Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Pace University, Duke University, Australian National University, University of Colorado, Boulder, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, University of Alberta, University of California, Berkeley
- Journal
- The Antropocene Review
- Volume
- 2
- Pages
- 117-127
- No. of pages
- 11
- ISSN
- 2053-0196
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019615587056
- Publication date
- 08-2015
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105205 Climate change, 105112 Historical geology, 105123 Stratigraphy
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geology, Global and Planetary Change, Ecology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 13 - Climate Action
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/4e2c48aa-333f-4e4e-b944-0f7fe0d7cc6f