Spheroidal carbonaceous particles are a defining stratigraphic marker for the Anthropocene.

ABSTRACT: There has been recent debate over stratigraphic markers used to demarcate the Anthropocene from the Holocene Epoch. However, many of the proposed markers are found only in limited areas of the world or do not reflect human impacts on the environment. Here we show that spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs), a distinct form of black carbon produced from burning fossil fuels in energy production and heavy industry, provide unambiguous stratigraphic markers of the human activities that have rapidly changed planet Earth over the last century. SCPs are found in terrestrial and marine sediments or ice cores in every continent, including remote areas such as the high Arctic and Antarctica. The rapid increase in SCPs mostly occurs in the mid-twentieth century and is contemporaneous with the 'Gre

SUBMITTER: Swindles GT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4603698 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature