Scientists believe that the arrival of Europeans to the Americas had an unprecedented impact on the planet and, therefore, this moment can be considered as the beginning of a new era. Others, however, think that the industrial revolution or the first nuclear tests should mark the beginning of the Anthropocene. And some believe that the exact date of a new era can only be determined thousands or millions of years later.
Geologists divide the history of Earth into segments that reflect times of significant changes that may be the result of continental movements, the impact of a large asteroid or a profound change in climate.
Currently, we are in an era called the Holocene which began over 11,500 years after the end the last Ice Age. But now, scientists argue that humanity has changed the planet dramatically.
In order to establish the beginning of this new phase, geologists are looking for a clear signal described as a ” marker “that must be recorded in rocks, sediments or ice.
” We look for these markers, a real moment in time that can show a record of when it changed the entire Earth, “says Mark Maslin, a professor at University College London and co-author of the study.
“If you take into account the whole wonderful geological time scale, have defined limits almost all that.”
The study suggests that one of these markers located the start of the Anthropocene in 1610.
According to investigators, the arrival of Europeans in America a hundred years ago began a major global transformation. “Global trade after that time caused a transfer of species,” says Simon Lewis, co-author of the Univesity College London.
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