Geomorphology of the Anthropocene: Time-transgressive discontinuities of human-induced alluviation

• Published in: Anthropocene
• Main Authors: Brown, Antony, Toms, Phillip, Carey, Chris, Rhodes, Eddie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2013
• Subjects: GB Physical geography; GF Human geography. Human ecology. Anthropogeography; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/2797/; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2013.06.002

Article outlineShow full outline Abstract Keywords 1. Introduction: geomorphology, sedimentology and the rock record 2. Defining potential and actual erosion rates 3. Depositional systems, sediment budget and preservation potential 4. Discussion 5. Conclusions Acknowledgements References Figures and tables A generalised geomorphic cycle for an Interglacial at mid-latitudes, showing . Holocene floodplain mean sedimentation rates in the UK (in mmyr−1) over the last . Table 1 Catchment maps for (a) the Frome and (b) Culm catchments with coring transects . Frome valley long section with GPR inset from Yarkhill transect. Photos of the major stratigraphic boundary in the Holocene valley fills from . The pollen proportions from two levels at the base of the core from the Yarkhill . Table 2 A generalised cross-section with 14C and OSL ages from the Culm valley and a . Table 3 ADVERTISEMENT Anthropocene Volume 1, September 2013, Pages 3–13 Cover image Review Geomorphology of the Anthropocene: Time-transgressive discontinuities of human-induced alluviation Antony Browna, , , Phillip Tomsb, 1, , Chris Careyc, , Eddie Rhodesd, Show more doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2013.06.002 Get rights and content Abstract Alluvial sediments are an integral and environmentally sensitive component of the geological record and may be preserved both in subsiding basins and by uplift. This paper examines the Holocene alluvial record of a high-order fluvial discontinuity within the mid to late Holocene that is evident on all continents except Antarctica. The time-transgressive nature of this discontinuity, even over short distances, is revealed by two similar small-catchments in the UK which have a similar response to arable cultivation but separated in time by approximately 3000 years. It is argued that this anthropogenic discontinuity is likely to be an enduring signal as it exists well outside potentially future-glaciated areas and will be preserved in Holocene river terraces due to recent and future channel incision. This will make a marked lithological and sedimentological difference between this Middle-Late Holocene terrace and Pleistocene terraces which will also include a biological turnover with the appearance of new taxa, largely domesticates and synanthropes. Discussions of the Anthropocene as a geological period will have to accommodate this data and this may have important implications for the status and demarcation of the Anthropocene as a period in Earth System history.