HOW WILL THE ANTHROPOCENE BE REMEMBERED? GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALES, PRAGMATIC BOUNDARIES, AND THE ULTIMATE CAUSES
HOW WILL THE ANTHROPOCENE BE REMEMBERED? GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALES, PRAGMATIC BOUNDARIES, AND THE ULTIMATE CAUSES

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses the stratigraphical problem of the Anthropocene. How does the observed timing of the event fall within the general context of the geodynamics during the Phanerozoic Eon? So far, the informal “Anthropocene”, whose name was fashioned after the traditional epoch names of the Cenozoic, is far too short to be recognized as an epoch. The magnitude of the transition criterion may be sound, but it entirely depends on the future outcomes of the processes initiated by humans. Assuming a possible near-future extinction of our species, the chain of events associated with the Anthropocene would probably appear as a short-term aberration from the point of view of a future geologist. The deepest and most enduring systemic change that will be recognized in the future fossil record will be the transformed composition of the future global biota.

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