New Geological Era

Welcome to the Anthropocene, a new geological era for the world - An epoch is a subdivision of a timescale created specifically for Earth's geological history; it's longer than an age (like the Stone Age) and shorter than a period (like the Jurassic period).

The Holocene Epoch is an era of development, adaptability, human flexibility to mend resources and increase food production, built urban settlements and becoming adept at developing water, mineral and energy resources of the planet.

It is argued to be a time of rapid environmental change initiated on by the impact of a course in human population and enhanced consumption during the "Great Acceleration" of the mid-20th century. They explain the Anthropocene is different from the previous epoch, the Holocene, because of how human actions have affected "measurable signals in geological strata" of sediments and ice. Scientists are nearly certain the planet has entered a new geological age - and it's down to the impact of humans. There has recently been a rapid global spread of new materials, including aluminium, concrete and plastics, which are leaving their mark in sediments.

"Detonation of the Trinity atomic device at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on 16 July 1945 initiated local nuclear fallout from 1945 to 1951, whereas thermonuclear weapons tests generated a clear global signal from 1952 to 1980, the so-called "bomb spike" of excess (carbon 14, plutonium 239) and other artificial radionuclides that peaks in 1964".

"The Jurassic period was known for dinosaurs and the Holocene is the period during which human civilisation developed, but the new Anthropocene epoch will be marked by the widespread impacts that humans are having on our planet", said Steffen, a professor at the ANU's Fenner School of Environment and Society.

The Anthropocene - the period during which human activity has been the main influence on Earth's geology, environment and climate - is here, says an worldwide group of geoscientists, including researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Cambridge in England, and the British Geological Survey. "All of this shows that there is an underlying reality to the Anthropocene concept". The findings will likely be considered by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the body that formally approves such epoch divisions, when it meets later in 2016. It has been dubbed the Anthropocene Epoch and our activity has left a lasting imprint on the planet. Geologists have been discussing the potential for an Anthropocene Epoch for 15 years.

"Formalization is a complex question because, unlike with prior subdivisions of geological time, the potential utility of a formal Anthropocene reaches well beyond the geological community". "People are environmentally aware these days, but maybe the information is not available to them to show the scale of changes that are happening". Two other scientists from the University College London published a paper defining the Anthropocene in the journal Nature in March 2015.