Microplastics and Nuclear Fallout as Evidence of the Human Era

Is there anything that has not been affected by human presence as scientists argue that people have radically changed the earth to merit our own geological epoch? Soaring greenhouse gas levels, pervasive “forever chemicals,” widespread microplastics, the worldwide upheaval of animals, even outdated mobile phones, and chicken bones have all been cited as indicators that the Anthropocene, or age of humans, began in the middle of the 20th century.

When asked whether there was any place on Earth that lacked evidence of human impact, Jan Zalasiewicz, a British geologist and former head of the Anthropocene Working Group, took a time to think.

The Pine Island glacier in Antarctica is “hard to think of a more remote place,” Zalasiewicz told AFP.

However, indications of plutonium were discovered when scientists excavated a deep hole under the glacier’s ice a few years ago.

It was the lingering radioactive remnant of nuclear bomb testing that had started in 1945 and had never been seen before.

These radionuclides, according to Zalasiewicz, may have been “the sharpest signal” to indicate the beginning of the Anthropocene period 70 years ago.

However, “there’s an awful lot to choose from,” he said.

The site that best exemplifies the numerous ways that people have altered the Earth is scheduled to be chosen by the Anthropocene Working Group as its “golden spike” on Tuesday.

However, since scientists throughout the globe are still sorting through the material, the statement will not yet formally recognize the Anthropocene as a geological time period.

The mass of people

It should come as no surprise that the fast increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are warming the earth is another significant hallmark of the Anthropocene.

As soon as people figured out how to extract fossilized sunlight—in the form of oil, coal, and gas—from the earth, a lot of things changed, according to Zalasiewicz.

The Anthropocene experts have shown that since 1950, human use of energy has exceeded that of the 11,700 years of the Holocene period before it.

It was now conceivable to rule the globe thanks to this newfound strength. The growing human population required the use of both land and animals.

According to study from 2018, humans and their livestock account for 96% of the biomass of all terrestrial mammals, with wild mammals making up the remaining 4%.

According to Zalasiewicz, two thirds of all avian biomass comes from supermarket hens, which have been raised by humans to grow far bigger than they would naturally.

Invasive animals like rats were introduced by humans to even the most isolated Pacific islands, rearranging species throughout the world.

Chemical fossils that will always exist

Researchers predicted that by the year 2020, all human-made items will weigh more than all other living things combined.

These items were referred to as “technofossils” by Anthropocene researchers.

Zalasiewicz cited several generations of mobile phones as only one example of a technofossil that would “be part of the Anthropocene record” due to how rapidly they become outdated.

Microplastics, which are smaller fragments of plastic, have been found on the highest mountains on the globe and at the bottom of the world’s deepest seas.

The global identification of substances known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” produced for goods like non-stick cookware is also on the rise.

The list of possible Anthropocene markers is endless and includes pesticides, fertilizers, rising levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, even human remains buried in the ground.

According to the researchers, all of these marks will be clearly maintained hundreds of thousands of years in the future to provide an understanding of our human age to our future ancestors or any other species who wish to look.

But what will this geologist of the future see next?

According to Mark Williams, a British palaeontologist and member of the Anthropocene Working Group, “one of the signals that you would want to see from the Anthropocene is humanity responding in a positive way.”

Although a global extinction has not yet been documented in the fossil record, one “is now very much on the cards,” he told AFP.

“We go two ways from here,” he said.

So, is there still any place on Earth that is unmarked by human traces?

The researchers came to the conclusion that the only location like this probably existed in Antarctica, beneath the ice.

Zalasiewicz cautioned that if nothing is done, these ice sheets would gradually melt due to global warming.