Stratigraphic and Earth System approaches to defining the Anthropocene
- Author(s)
- Will Steffen, Reinhold Leinfelder, Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin N. Waters, Mark Williams, Colin Summerhayes, Anthony D. Barnosky, Alejandro Cearreta, Paul Crutzen, Matt Edgeworth, Erle C. Ellis, Ian J. Fairchild, Agnieszka Galuszka, Jacques Grinevald, Alan Haywood, Juliana Ivar do Sul, Catherine Jeandel, J. R. McNeill, Eric Odada, Naomi Oreskes, Andrew Revkin, James Syvitski, Davor Vidas, Michael Wagreich, Scott L. Wing, Alexander P. Wolfe, H. J. Schellnhuber
- 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.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Geology
- External organisation(s)
- Australian National University, Stockholm University, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), University of Leicester, Natural Environment Research Council, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, University of the Basque Country, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut), University of Maryland, Baltimore, University of Birmingham, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Université de Genève, University of Leeds, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Georgetown University, University of Nairobi, Harvard University, Pace University, University of Colorado, Boulder, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, University of Alberta, Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung
- Journal
- Earth's future
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 324-345
- No. of pages
- 22
- ISSN
- 2328-4277
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000379
- Publication date
- 08-2016
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105205 Climate change, 105123 Stratigraphy, 105904 Environmental research
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Environmental Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 13 - Climate Action
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/d90a8200-84b2-4035-9e87-5bde8b30481d