The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time?

作者：Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams, Alan M. Haywood, Michael A. Ellis · 发表于：Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences · 年份：2011 · DOI：10.1098/rsta.2010.0339 · 被引用次数：638 · 研究领域：Geology and Paleoclimatology Research、Global Energy and Sustainability Research、Marine and environmental studies

Anthropogenic changes to the Earth's climate, land, oceans and biosphere are now so great and so rapid that the concept of a new geological epoch defined by the action of humans, the Anthropocene, is widely and seriously debated. Questions of the scale, magnitude and significance of this environmental change, particularly in the context of the Earth's geological history, provide the basis for this Theme Issue. The Anthropocene, on current evidence, seems to show global change consistent with the suggestion that an epoch-scale boundary has been crossed within the last two centuries.