A lake surrounded by trees with wisps of mist on its surface.
A lake surrounded by trees with wisps of mist on its surface. A Canadian lake has been proposed as the official point marking the onset of the Anthropocene period by a committee led by a UCL academic. The Anthropocene is a proposed geological time period starting in the 1950s, defined by the impact of human activity on Earth. The term "Anthropocene" has been informally used by scientists for some time to refer to the modern era, but defining the point in time through observed geologic processes is an important step to officially recognising it as a new epoch in Earth's geologic timeline. This new age has been ushered in by unprecedented changes in Earth's climate and environment, stemming from the dramatic increases in industrial and socioeconomic activity since the mid-twentieth century. It would mark the end of the previous epoch, the Holocene, a period of relatively stable climate conditions that started about 11,700 years ago. Researchers from the Anthropocene Working Group nominated the sedimentary layers at the bottom of Crawford Lake near Toronto, Canada, to be recognized as the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) marking the beginning of the Anthropocene.
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