New Geologic Epoch Name Reflects Human Impact


	New Geologic Epoch Name Reflects Human Impact

patchworkthreads

1-28-2008 12:06 PM

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geology, science

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/5a326729-e6c4-41f2-9bb2-57ed42ebfc8c/10DAC65C-7B9C-4FC4-AAA2-0D4518830AD2/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.livescience.com/environment/080127-new-epoch.html" href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/080127-new-epoch.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.livescience.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/environment/080127-new-epoch.html"><P>
Humans have altered Earth so much that scientists say a new epoch in the planet's geologic history has begun. 
</p> <P>
Say goodbye to the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch and hello to the Anthropocene.
</p> <P>
Among the major changes heralding this two-century-old man-made epoch: 
</p> <UL>
	<li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Vastly altered <A href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/041103_earth_movers.html">sediment erosion</A>  and deposition patterns.</LI>
	<li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Major disturbances to the <A href="http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/070524_carbon_sink.html">carbon cycle</A>  and <A href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/080124-agu-climate-change.html">global temperature</A>.</LI>
	<li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Wholesale <A href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/top10_global_warming_results-1.html">changes in biology</A>, from altered flowering times to new migration patterns.</LI>
	<li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Acidification of the ocean, which <A href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/060406_ocean_acid.html">threatens tiny marine life</A>  that forms the bottom of the food chain.</LI>
</UL>
<P>
The idea, first suggested in 2000 by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, has gained steam with two new scientific papers that call for official recognition of the shift.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/environment/080127-new-epoch.html">
As early as the late 1800s scientists were writing about man's wholesale impact on the planet and the possibility of an "anthropozoic era" having begun</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/environment/080127-new-epoch.html">
Up to half of Earth's land has been transformed by human activity, wrote Crutzen</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/10DAC65C-7B9C-4FC4-AAA2-0D4518830AD2/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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