The Worldwide Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has voted to reject the Anthropocene Epoch as a unit of geological time.  Plans to introduce a brand new geological epoch primarily based on the affect of people on our planet have been shelved at a gathering of the IUGS.

Final month, a vote was held concerning the proposal so as to add the Anthropocene to the chronostratigraphic chart outlining the age of the Earth. This vote, undertaken by members of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) led to a rejection of the proposal. This committee’s resolution has now been endorsed by the IUGS.

The influence of mankind on our planet - the Anthropocene Epoch.

The thought of naming a brand new geological epoch to mark the affect of mankind on the planet has been rejected. Image credit score: The whole lot Dinosaur.

Image credit score: The whole lot Dinosaur

The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG)

In 2001 the atmospheric chemist, Paul Crutzen, proposed that the exercise of mankind was impacting pure environmental situations to the extent that we had successfully left the pure secure
situations of the Holocene Epoch and moved into a brand new interval that he named the Anthropocene.  A committee was established in 2009 to look at this concept.  It was named the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG).  Their transient was to look at the proof for human induced local weather change as mirrored within the geological report, and to find out whether or not a brand new geological epoch was justified.

The Anthropocene Epoch Rejected – The Full Assertion

An announcement was launched by the IUGS:

“It’s with the delegated authority of the IUGS President and Secretary Basic and on behalf of the Worldwide Fee on Stratigraphy (ICS) that the vote by the ICS Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) to reject the proposal for an Anthropocene Epoch as a proper unit of the Geologic Time Scale is accredited.”

Though the Anthropocene Epoch won’t be showing in textbooks anytime quickly, these findings may very well be reviewed in a decade or so.  Nevertheless, the IUGS did recognise the importance of this debate and highlighted the significance of recognising the affect of Homo sapiens on planet Earth.

The prolonged assertion included the next:

“Regardless of its rejection as a proper unit of the Geologic Time Scale, Anthropocene will nonetheless proceed for use not solely by Earth and environmental scientists, but additionally by social scientists, politicians and economists, in addition to by the general public at massive. It’ll stay a useful descriptor of human affect on the Earth system.”

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