ANTHROPOCINE

“A period or a current geological age in which humans are the main influencers on climate
and environment”. It is an epoch in which the whole geological system changes due the human
activities. Now epoch is defined as the succession of significant events. And how we name the geological
epoch depends upon the criteria identified within the practice of stratigraphy. Preceding era was
Pleistocene, which was an ice age. Then the next age was Holocene, which was 10,000 years before with
the retreat of glaciation. Now the present age has entered into a new era called ANTROPOCINE in
which humans are the main influencers on geological, climatic, biological and chemical conditions of the
planet. And we got the sense about it in the late 1800s, when chemist Paul Crutzen in 2002 stated
that this new era started when the increasing level of carbon dioxide and methane was
observed in polar ice. In 2007, Crutzen, Steffen and McNeil described the description of
the stages of Anthropocene.

STAGES OF ANTHROPOCINE:
Here the stages of Anthropocene are given:

 Industrial Revolution
 The great acceleration

 STAGE 1: (Industrial Revolution )

The first era started with the industrial revolution that started in 1800 through to 1945.
Before this industrial revolution, the continuously increasing use of fossil fuels _ human
population and development was limited by limited energy. Wind and water power was
limited due to location, as we move from one tropic level to another there is roughly 10 %
limitation to the biological energy transfer through the food consumption. And if this energy
is not provided by fossil fuels then the population bloom and there could be no industrial
development. Now how the first stage is characterized by humans initially by the
refinement of steam engine driven by coal which means the is a great rise in
deforestation in the mid-latitudes for agriculture. Moreover, the development of
technology to convert the nitrogen present in atmosphere into ammonia that is to be use
in fertilizers. Also, the change in composition of environmental chemistry, characterized
by increases in methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.

 STAGE 2 : (The Great Acceleration )

This stage in the era starts after the war of 1945 and continues till today. It enhances basically
due to doubling of human population in first 50 years, a noticeable increase in the extinction
rate, increase in the rate of atmospheric CO2 accumulation and changes occurring in land
system due to urbanization. In addition to it humans are also responsible to cause changes in
the chemical processes of the planet. It has been noticed that greater amount of nitrogen is now
transforming from atmospheric form to reactive form by thee use of fertilizers, the fossil fuel
consumption and also the other natural factors in the environment. In addition to these things , the
increase in damming of rivers, greater use of water resources, vehicle transport, international tourism
and transformation of species between the continents all are changing and affecting the ecosystem in
their own manner. Moreover, it has become clear that humans are also affecting this environment as in
marine ecosystem the whole system is disturbed due to overfishing.
The great acceleration occurred when there was not a complete understanding of earth still. The
era of 1945 to 1950 can be marked more appropriately as the start of this great acceleration. And all the
time is changing rapidly only because of humans.

HUMANITY (A GEOLOGICAL SOURCE):

Anthropocene is a time base geological term in which humans play the role of having
greatest impact on this ecosystem. After following the Pleistocene and Holocene we have entered into
Anthropocene in which humans have the greatest power to have any impact. The abundantly available
amount of sunlight and soil goes for crops. The continuously increasing flesh of humans are
overweighting the mammals all over the world. Nature gets the shape of a subset of culture rather than
vice versa.
 References
 Autin, W. J., & Holbrook, J. M. (2012). Is the Anthropocene an issue of stratigraphy or pop culture?
GSA Today, 60–61. doi:10.1130/G153GW.1
 Christopherson, R. W., & Byrne, M.-L. (2009). Geosystems: an introduction to physical geography
(2nd ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson.
 Crutzen, P. J. (2002). Geology of mankind. Nature, 415(6867), 23–23. doi:10.1038/415023a
 Draper, D. (2010). Marine and Freshwater Fisheries. In B. Mitchell (Ed.), Resource and
environmental management in Canada: addressing conflict and uncertainty (4th ed.). Don Mills,
Ont. ; New York: Oxford University Press.
 McBean, G. (2010). Climate Change, Adaption, and Mitigation. In B. Mitchell (Ed.), Resource and
environmental management in Canada: addressing conflict and uncertainty (4th ed.). Don Mills,
Ont. ; New York: Oxford University Press.
 Steffen, W., Crutzen, P. J., & McNeill, J. R. (2007). The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now
Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature? Ambio, 36(8), 614–621.
 Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Haywood, A., & Ellis, M. (2011). The Anthropocene: a new epoch of
geological time? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and
Engineering Sciences, 369(1938), 835–841. doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0339