Candidate sites and other reference sections for the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point of the Anthropocene series

We review and compare proposals for 12 reference sections submitted to the Anthropocene Working Group of the International Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, of which one will be recommended as the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) to define the base of the Anthropocene as a series within the Geological Time Scale. The sites span five continents and are located in diverse environments, with all but one sampled by coring. Many sites show annually resolved laminae (here considered optimal for GSSP selection) that can be independently dated radiometrically to confirm a complete succession over the critical interval. An extensive range of proxies, documenting profound human modification of the Earth System at around the mid-20th century interval, has been analysed. Airborne signals (e.g. radioisotopes, fly ash, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes) provide the most widespread and near-isochronous proxies, applicable across most environments. Additional means of correlation include the appearance of microplastics and persistent organic pollutants, and shifts in heavy metal concentrations and lead isotope ratios. Assemblage changes of microfossils (and some macrofossils) in marine, estuarine and lake settings reflect environmental changes and biological introductions. These systematic and comprehensive datasets, with correlation established between sections, provide the basis for a proposal to formalize the Anthropocene

Anthropocene · Coring · Earth science · Geologic time scale · Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point · Range (aeronautics · Section (typography · Series (stratigraphy · Stage (stratigraphy · Stratotype · Structural basin · Tectonics · Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping · Geological and Geochemical Analysis · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Geology · Paleontology · Stratigraphy

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• Rethinking the Anthropocene

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• Ecocriticism

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• L’Anthropocène

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• Photoanthropocene

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• Bushfire impacts proposed Anthropocene markers in a Southern Hemisphere World Heritage peatland

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• The Global East in the Anthropocene as a Boundary Event

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• Shaping Interconnected Geography in Central and Eastern European Academia—Key Research Challenges for the Future

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• Enjeux d’une conceptualisation éducative de l’Anthropocène à partir des ruptures biogéophysiques

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• Response to Damianos—Anthropocene angst

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• The Anthropocene as a civil time unit

  Open Access•Ulrich Stange•The Anthropocene Review•2024

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• The Ernesto Cave, northern Italy, as a candidate auxiliary reference section for the definition of the Anthropocene series

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• The Sihailongwan Maar Lake, northeastern China as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• The Śnieżka peatland as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• The Flower Garden Banks Siderastrea siderea coral as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• The East Gotland Basin (Baltic Sea) as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• Before the Great Acceleration

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• Evidence and experiment

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• Beppu Bay, Japan, as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• The urban sediments of Karlsplatz, Vienna (Austria) as a reference section for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Michael Wagreich, Maria Meszar et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

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• The varved succession of Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario, Canada as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Francine Mg Mccarthy, Robert T Patterson et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

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• The Palmer ice core as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• From the Anthropocene to the Capitalocene and beyond

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• The Searsville Lake Site (California, USA) as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

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• High-resolution analysis of the varved succession at Crawford lake across the base of the proposed Crawfordian stage and Anthropocene series

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• Plastic pollution

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• The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart

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• Defining the Anthropocene

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• Geology of mankind

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• Formal subdivision of the Quaternary System/Period

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• The Anthropocene

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• When did the Anthropocene begin? A mid-twentieth century boundary level is stratigraphically optimal

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• The onset of the Anthropocene

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• The Working Group on the Anthropocene

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• The geological cycle of plastics and their use as a stratigraphic indicator of the Anthropocene

  Open Access•J Zalasiewicz, Colin N Waters et al.•Anthropocene•2016

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• The Ernesto Cave, northern Italy, as a candidate auxiliary reference section for the definition of the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Andrea Borsato, Ian J Fairchild et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The Sihailongwan Maar Lake, northeastern China as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Yongming Han, Zhaolong An et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The Śnieżka peatland as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł, Edyta Łokas et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The Flower Garden Banks Siderastrea siderea coral as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Kristine L Delong, Kylie Palmer et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The East Gotland Basin (Baltic Sea) as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Jérôme Kaiser, Serena Abel et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• Colonization of the Americas, 'Little Ice Age' climate, and bomb-produced carbon

  Open Access•J Zalasiewicz, Colin N Waters et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2015

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• Evidence and experiment

  Open Access•Christoph Rosol, Gary N Schafer et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• Beppu Bay, Japan, as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Michinobu Kuwae, B Finney et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The urban sediments of Karlsplatz, Vienna (Austria) as a reference section for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Michael Wagreich, Maria Meszar et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The varved succession of Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario, Canada as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Francine Mg Mccarthy, Robert T Patterson et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

  Incluir item

• The Palmer ice core as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Elizabeth R Thomas, Diana O Vladimirova et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

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• The San Francisco Estuary, USA as a reference section for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•Stephen Himson, Mark Williams et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

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• The Searsville Lake Site (California, USA) as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  Open Access•M Allison Stegner, Elizabeth A Hadly et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2023

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• The trajectory of the Anthropocene

  Open Access•Will Steffen, Wendy Broadgate et al.•The Anthropocene Review•2015

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