2023-07-28 18:17:47
Recently, the international press reported the finding of a group of scientists who, on July 11, exposed a geological site as evidence to demonstrate that the Anthropocene has begun.
The team of geologists, who have spent several years developing a theory around the concept of the Anthropocene, decided to present Crawford Lake, located in Ontario (Canada), as a scenario that would expose the impact that humanity has generated on Earth and the beginning of a new geological era on the planet.
The sediments of the Canadian lake would have microplastics and traces of nuclear explosions, which would demonstrate the beginning of the Anthropocene. | Photo: Arpad Benedek
What is the Anthropocene and how did it start?
The explanation was given by Dr. Blanca Emma Mendoza Ortega, researcher and member of the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, to the National Geographic portal in Spanish.
Dr. Mendoza specified that in order to understand what the Anthropocene is about, it is essential to keep in mind that different geological epochs have occurred on Earth, which leave a record through the constitution of the different sedimentary layers of the earth’s crust. in the understanding that sediments represent all the fragments of rock, minerals, plant and animal matter, which over the centuries accumulate in each layer of soil, lakes and ice.
So it would be possible to determine when the transition to a new geological era begins, by detecting certain variations in elements present in the deposits and layers of sediment in the earth’s crust.
However, in his interview, Mendoza has indicated that there is still no full concept of the precise date on which the beginning of the Anthropocene would have occurred. However, the expert points out that this phenomenon would have already occurred centuries ago, such as at the beginning of the industrial revolution (approximately 1780), and even when the atomic age began with the nuclear weapons tests carried out in the 1950s. the last century.
A fundamental component in the concept of the Anthropocene is that it is a phenomenon produced by the hand of the human being on the planet Earth, since the effect of geological transformation is closely related to the activities of man.
Precisely for this reason, the scientific work carried out by the group of researchers at Lake Crawford becomes an important reference on the beginning of a new Anthropocene. This is due to the fact that high peaks in plutonium levels were detected in the lake sediments of that area, a situation generated by atomic tests.
Crawford Lake will be the so-called ‘golden point’ to demonstrate the beginning of a new geological period. | Photo: SkyF
In addition to this, the scientists detected the presence of carbon particles and nitrates, chemical elements produced by the use of fossil fuels and large-scale chemical fertilizers.
Does the Anthropocene represent the end of humanity?
Dr. Blanca Emma Mendoza indicated that this transformation has been caused, to a large extent, by the high and continuous increase in temperature that the Earth has experienced in recent decades.
However, Mendoza maintains that global warming is one of the factors that has most promoted a harmful process that threatens humanity along with any living being on the planet, because climate change has allowed the appearance of other natural phenomena such as powerful heat waves, droughts, hurricanes and floods.
Thus, the expert points out that this change in geological era is part of a change that occurs on a global scale and that is already irreversible. Therefore, at this time, actions can only be taken to mitigate its effects, while humanity adapts to this new scenario that it has created.
Global warming is accelerating and rising +0.2º C per decade. | Photo: Illustration created with the AI of Bing Image Creator
Mendoza reiterated that the key to the survival of all life on Earth depends on the measures that are implemented to reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions, along with other practices that contribute to the care of natural resources.
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