Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Environ Sci Technol. 2015 Apr 7;49(7):4155-62. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5b00543. Epub 2015 Mar 30.
Human impacts on Earth are now so great that they have led to the concept of a new geological epoch defined by this global human influence: the Anthropocene. While not universally accepted, the term is increasingly popular and widely used. However, even among proponents, there is considerable debate regarding when the epoch may have started, from coeval with the Holocene, through the Industrial Revolution, to the mid-20th century when unprecedented human activities resulted in exponential increases in population, resource consumption, and pollutant emission. Recently, this latter period, known as the Great Acceleration, appears to be becoming the more widely accepted start date. To define any start point, a global stratigraphic marker or Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is typically required. Here, spheroidal carbonaceous fly ash particles (SCPs), byproducts of industrial fossil-fuel combustion, are proposed as a primary marker for a GSSP at the time of the Great Acceleration. Data from over 75 lake sediment records show a global, synchronous, and dramatic increase in particle accumulation starting in c. 1950 driven by the increased demand for electricity and the introduction of fuel-oil combustion, in addition to coal, as a means to produce it. SCPs are morphologically distinct and solely anthropogenic in origin, providing an unambiguous marker. This is a clear signal of great stratigraphic utility representing a primary driving force for global anthropogenic change.
人类活动对地球的影响现在如此巨大，以至于人们提出了一个新的地质年代概念，这个年代以全球人类影响为特征：人类世。尽管这个术语尚未被普遍接受，但它越来越流行，被广泛使用。然而，即使在支持者中，对于这个年代何时开始也存在相当大的争议，有人认为它与全新世同时开始，有人认为它始于工业革命，还有人认为始于 20 世纪中叶，当时人类活动以前所未有的速度导致人口、资源消耗和污染物排放呈指数级增长。最近，这个后期阶段，即所谓的大加速，似乎越来越被广泛接受为开始日期。为了定义任何起始点，通常需要一个全球地层标记或全球边界层型剖面和点（GSSP）。在这里，球形碳质飞灰颗粒（SCPs）是工业化石燃料燃烧的副产品，被提议作为大加速时期 GSSP 的主要标记物。来自 75 多个湖泊沉积物记录的数据表明，自 1950 年以来，由于对电力的需求增加以及除了煤炭之外还引入了燃油燃烧作为发电手段，全球范围内同步出现了一次戏剧性的颗粒积累增加，这是由人类活动引起的。SCPs 在形态上是独特的，并且完全是人为起源的，提供了一个明确的标记。这是一个具有重要地层意义的明确信号，代表了全球人为变化的主要驱动力。
