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The concept of “old” means something different to an American than a Brit. I can remember my ex father in law (a rather senior government official) pointing at a building in Washington DC and saying with some pride “that building was built in 1842” – when I didn’t react he followed with “Oh I forgot – that wouldn’t be too impressive to a Brit”
To Geologists, old has an entirely different meaning. Much like “far away” to Astronomers. Geology students sometimes have a tough time getting their head around the concept of deep time. The Earth has celebrated its millionth birthday party, 4,500 times!
During this immense time there seems to have been five mass extinctions when life was nearly wiped out. Some respected scientists believe we have entered another one – but this time it is human beings who are largely responsible – remarkable considering the tiny amount of time (geologically) we have been around
Geologists have developed an age chart of the earth that has been revise d over the decades to make sense of this enormous amount of time. Most people are familiar with the names of some of these divisions. The movie Jurassic Park for instance. The greatest of these mass extinctions is sometimes called the great Permian dying. At the end of the Permian period, nearly 90% of Earth species disappeared. What caused it? Evidence points to volcanoes, but it’s still uncertain.
This paved the way for the dinosaurs which ruled for over 150 million years until 65 million years ago, when they too met their end. The extinction of the dinosaurs along with many other species is likely solved.. It was probably a meteorite. Why are geologists so certain? The puzzle pieces fit together (There are still some doubters, and you should know the Science is not completely settled on this)
A Geologist in Italy was looking at a stack of rocks that spanned the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary periods. He noticed a layer of an unusual mineral and it turned out to have a very high concentration of iridium. Iridium is rare on earth and it’s only formed in extreme pressures and temps. When it was proposed that a meteor wiped out the dinosaurs many geologists laughed. They aren’t laughing now. The crater was found deep under the Gulf of Mexico mud, and it’s been dated to exactly 65 million years old. The iridium shows up across the planet in rocks 65 million years old. There is now a growing body of independent evidence that something rocked our world 65.5 million years ago.
The end of the dinosaurs allowed a little species called Mammals to thrive, and thrive they have, Humans now inhabit every corner of this planet and have controlled it’s rivers, changed it’s atmosphere markedly, by doubling the Methane and increasing the Carbon Dioxide significantly in just 200 years. Just a blink of the eye in Geologic time. Cities and agriculture have increased the erosion rates dramatically. The oceans are now noticeably more acidic, and most of all there seems to be another mass extinction underway. We know for certain what is causing this 6th great extinction. One of those Mammals that thrived after the “Terrible Lizards” were wiped out. It’s Homo Sapiens – us.
The question is this. Will Geologists of the far future look at the rocks of earth from our time, and say, “something changed there”. The answer seems to be a resounding yes. If so, where do you draw the line? Most of man’s affect on Earth starts showing up at the beginning of the industrial revolution.
In a paper published last year a group of Geologists led by Jan Zalasiewic, supported strongly the idea, put forth in 2000 by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen that we are no longer living in the Holocene.
The Holocene began 11,000 years ago, when we finished coming out of the last ice age (Pleistocene). Crutzen calls this new period the Anthropocene. Andy Revkinof the New York Times first suggested something similar called the Anthrocene as early as 1992.
Early this month (Feb 2011) studies led by the University of Leicester and published in Philisophical Transactions of the Royal Society highlight the human influence on global warming, landscape, sea level rise, ocean acidification and biodiversity.
Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams from the University of Leicester Department of Geology led the production of the studies into the Anthropocene – the new geological epoch distinguished by the change that man has wrought upon the earth.
Dr Zalasiewicz said: “At the beginning of this millennium, the Nobel Prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen suggested that we are now living in a new geological interval of time that is dominated by human activities. He termed this the Anthropocene. Since then, the Anthropocene has increasingly been used both by scientists and by the public as in indication of the scale of human change to planet Earth.
“Our new studies published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society feature nearly 70 scientists – including Paul Crutzen himself, Sir Crispin Tickell Professor Will Steffen and many others.
“The results give us a much clearer picture of the way in which we are changing the world – and of how long these changes might last.”
The authors contend that recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering what they call the Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch.
They add: “The Anthropocene represents a new phase in the history of both humankind and of the Earth, when natural forces and human forces became intertwined, so that the fate of one determines the fate of the other. Geologically, this is a remarkable episode in the history of this planet.
At the end of the Permian, 96% of all marine species died off. 70% of land vertebrates like us. One can’t help but wonder what the Anthropocence will bring. Unlike the other 5 extinctions, this one is in our hands.
The concept of “old” means something different to an American than a Brit. I can remember my ex father in law (a rather senior government official) pointing at a building in Washington DC and saying with some pride “that building was built in 1842” – when I didn’t react he followed with “Oh I forgot – that wouldn’t be too impressive to a Brit”
To Geologists, old has an entirely different meaning. Much like “far away” to Astronomers. Geology students sometimes have a tough time getting their head around the concept of deep time. The Earth has celebrated its millionth birthday party, 4,500 times!
During this immense time there seems to have been five mass extinctions when life was nearly wiped out. Some respected scientists believe we have entered another one – but this time it is human beings who are largely responsible – remarkable considering the tiny amount of time (geologically) we have been around
Geologists have developed an age chart of the earth that has been revise d over the decades to make sense of this enormous amount of time. Most people are familiar with the names of some of these divisions. The movie Jurassic Park for instance. The greatest of these mass extinctions is sometimes called the great Permian dying. At the end of the Permian period, nearly 90% of Earth species disappeared. What caused it? Evidence points to volcanoes, but it’s still uncertain.
This paved the way for the dinosaurs which ruled for over 150 million years until 65 million years ago, when they too met their end. The extinction of the dinosaurs along with many other species is likely solved.. It was probably a meteorite. Why are geologists so certain? The puzzle pieces fit together (There are still some doubters, and you should know the Science is not completely settled on this)
A Geologist in Italy was looking at a stack of rocks that spanned the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary periods. He noticed a layer of an unusual mineral and it turned out to have a very high concentration of iridium. Iridium is rare on earth and it’s only formed in extreme pressures and temps. When it was proposed that a meteor wiped out the dinosaurs many geologists laughed. They aren’t laughing now. The crater was found deep under the Gulf of Mexico mud, and it’s been dated to exactly 65 million years old. The iridium shows up across the planet in rocks 65 million years old. There is now a growing body of independent evidence that something rocked our world 65.5 million years ago.
The end of the dinosaurs allowed a little species called Mammals to thrive, and thrive they have, Humans now inhabit every corner of this planet and have controlled it’s rivers, changed it’s atmosphere markedly, by doubling the Methane and increasing the Carbon Dioxide significantly in just 200 years. Just a blink of the eye in Geologic time. Cities and agriculture have increased the erosion rates dramatically. The oceans are now noticeably more acidic, and most of all there seems to be another mass extinction underway. We know for certain what is causing this 6th great extinction. One of those Mammals that thrived after the “Terrible Lizards” were wiped out. It’s Homo Sapiens – us.
The question is this. Will Geologists of the far future look at the rocks of earth from our time, and say, “something changed there”. The answer seems to be a resounding yes. If so, where do you draw the line? Most of man’s affect on Earth starts showing up at the beginning of the industrial revolution.
In a paper published last year a group of Geologists led by Jan Zalasiewic, supported strongly the idea, put forth in 2000 by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen that we are no longer living in the Holocene.
The Holocene began 11,000 years ago, when we finished coming out of the last ice age (Pleistocene). Crutzen calls this new period the Anthropocene. Andy Revkinof the New York Times first suggested something similar called the Anthrocene as early as 1992.
Early this month (Feb 2011) studies led by the University of Leicester and published in Philisophical Transactions of the Royal Society highlight the human influence on global warming, landscape, sea level rise, ocean acidification and biodiversity.
Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams from the University of Leicester Department of Geology led the production of the studies into the Anthropocene – the new geological epoch distinguished by the change that man has wrought upon the earth.
Dr Zalasiewicz said: “At the beginning of this millennium, the Nobel Prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen suggested that we are now living in a new geological interval of time that is dominated by human activities. He termed this the Anthropocene. Since then, the Anthropocene has increasingly been used both by scientists and by the public as in indication of the scale of human change to planet Earth.
“Our new studies published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society feature nearly 70 scientists – including Paul Crutzen himself, Sir Crispin Tickell Professor Will Steffen and many others.
“The results give us a much clearer picture of the way in which we are changing the world – and of how long these changes might last.”
The authors contend that recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering what they call the Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch.
They add: “The Anthropocene represents a new phase in the history of both humankind and of the Earth, when natural forces and human forces became intertwined, so that the fate of one determines the fate of the other. Geologically, this is a remarkable episode in the history of this planet.
At the end of the Permian, 96% of all marine species died off. 70% of land vertebrates like us. One can’t help but wonder what the Anthropocence will bring. Unlike the other 5 extinctions, this one is in our hands.
