A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’
© The Author(s) 2019. We analyse the ‘three flaws’ to potentially defining a formal Anthropocene geological time unit as advanced by Ruddiman (2018). (1) We recognize a long record of pre-industrial human impacts, but note that these increased in relative magnitude slowly and were strongly time-tran...
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ftdukeunivdsp:oai:localhost:10161/21229 2023-11-12T04:26:40+01:00 A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ Zalasiewicz, J Waters, CN Head, MJ Poirier, C Summerhayes, CP Leinfelder, R Grinevald, J Steffen, W Syvitski, J Haff, P McNeill, JR Wagreich, M Fairchild, IJ Richter, DD Vidas, D Williams, M Barnosky, AD Cearreta, A 2020-08-01T15:44:26Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21229 en eng SAGE Publications Progress in Physical Geography 10.1177/0309133319832607 0309-1333 1477-0296 https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21229 Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary Physical Geography Geology Anthropocene Holocene chronostratigraphy geological time scale Earth sciences QUATERNARY SYSTEM/PERIOD ATMOSPHERIC CO2 PLEISTOCENE SERIES/EPOCH SOUTHERN-OCEAN ICE-AGE CLIMATE CARBON SUBDIVISION BEGINNINGS Journal article 2020 ftdukeunivdsp 2023-10-17T09:40:05Z © The Author(s) 2019. We analyse the ‘three flaws’ to potentially defining a formal Anthropocene geological time unit as advanced by Ruddiman (2018). (1) We recognize a long record of pre-industrial human impacts, but note that these increased in relative magnitude slowly and were strongly time-transgressive by comparison with the extraordinarily rapid, novel and near-globally synchronous changes of post-industrial time. (2) The rules of stratigraphic nomenclature do not ‘reject’ pre-industrial anthropogenic signals – these have long been a key characteristic and distinguishing feature of the Holocene. (3) In contrast to the contention that classical chronostratigraphy is now widely ignored by scientists, it remains vital and widely used in unambiguously defining geological time units and is an indispensable part of the Earth sciences. A mounting body of evidence indicates that the Anthropocene, considered as a precisely defined geological time unit that begins in the mid-20th century, is sharply distinct from the Holocene. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean Duke University Libraries: DukeSpace Southern Ocean |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Duke University Libraries: DukeSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftdukeunivdsp |
language |
English |
topic |
Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary Physical Geography Geology Anthropocene Holocene chronostratigraphy geological time scale Earth sciences QUATERNARY SYSTEM/PERIOD ATMOSPHERIC CO2 PLEISTOCENE SERIES/EPOCH SOUTHERN-OCEAN ICE-AGE CLIMATE CARBON SUBDIVISION BEGINNINGS |
spellingShingle |
Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary Physical Geography Geology Anthropocene Holocene chronostratigraphy geological time scale Earth sciences QUATERNARY SYSTEM/PERIOD ATMOSPHERIC CO2 PLEISTOCENE SERIES/EPOCH SOUTHERN-OCEAN ICE-AGE CLIMATE CARBON SUBDIVISION BEGINNINGS Zalasiewicz, J Waters, CN Head, MJ Poirier, C Summerhayes, CP Leinfelder, R Grinevald, J Steffen, W Syvitski, J Haff, P McNeill, JR Wagreich, M Fairchild, IJ Richter, DD Vidas, D Williams, M Barnosky, AD Cearreta, A A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ |
topic_facet |
Science & Technology Physical Sciences Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary Physical Geography Geology Anthropocene Holocene chronostratigraphy geological time scale Earth sciences QUATERNARY SYSTEM/PERIOD ATMOSPHERIC CO2 PLEISTOCENE SERIES/EPOCH SOUTHERN-OCEAN ICE-AGE CLIMATE CARBON SUBDIVISION BEGINNINGS |
description |
© The Author(s) 2019. We analyse the ‘three flaws’ to potentially defining a formal Anthropocene geological time unit as advanced by Ruddiman (2018). (1) We recognize a long record of pre-industrial human impacts, but note that these increased in relative magnitude slowly and were strongly time-transgressive by comparison with the extraordinarily rapid, novel and near-globally synchronous changes of post-industrial time. (2) The rules of stratigraphic nomenclature do not ‘reject’ pre-industrial anthropogenic signals – these have long been a key characteristic and distinguishing feature of the Holocene. (3) In contrast to the contention that classical chronostratigraphy is now widely ignored by scientists, it remains vital and widely used in unambiguously defining geological time units and is an indispensable part of the Earth sciences. A mounting body of evidence indicates that the Anthropocene, considered as a precisely defined geological time unit that begins in the mid-20th century, is sharply distinct from the Holocene. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zalasiewicz, J Waters, CN Head, MJ Poirier, C Summerhayes, CP Leinfelder, R Grinevald, J Steffen, W Syvitski, J Haff, P McNeill, JR Wagreich, M Fairchild, IJ Richter, DD Vidas, D Williams, M Barnosky, AD Cearreta, A |
author_facet |
Zalasiewicz, J Waters, CN Head, MJ Poirier, C Summerhayes, CP Leinfelder, R Grinevald, J Steffen, W Syvitski, J Haff, P McNeill, JR Wagreich, M Fairchild, IJ Richter, DD Vidas, D Williams, M Barnosky, AD Cearreta, A |
author_sort |
Zalasiewicz, J |
title |
A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ |
title_short |
A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ |
title_full |
A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ |
title_fullStr |
A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ |
title_full_unstemmed |
A formal Anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to W.F. Ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal Anthropocene’ |
title_sort |
formal anthropocene is compatible with but distinct from its diachronous anthropogenic counterparts: a response to w.f. ruddiman’s ‘three flaws in defining a formal anthropocene’ |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21229 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Progress in Physical Geography 10.1177/0309133319832607 0309-1333 1477-0296 https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21229 |
_version_ |
1782340569232572416 |