Professors Jens Zinke, Mark Williams, Jan Zalasiewicz and Dr Stephen Himson from the University of Leicester presented several candidates for unique landmarks to define the Anthropocene at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt “Current Excavations” conference in Berlin.

The Anthropocene, the proposal that human actions have ushered the Earth into a new geological epoch or “epoch,” has been one of the most influential concepts of the past decade in geological research. his analysis.

The search for a “golden spike” is a key concept in Anthropocene research, which could provide a unique reference point chosen somewhere in the world to mark the start of the Anthropocene, and eventually allow the Anthropocene to be formally defined. there is. As part of the geological time scale.

One of the candidates of the research, Professor Williams, whose work focuses on human-induced changes in life and the impact of human-made environments on the delicate balance of Earth’s natural ecosystems, said: “Sometimes the new arrivals completely dominate their adopted ecologies, their shells accumulating in the recent fossil record and leaving a clear geological signature of human impacts on the planet. Although San Francisco Estuary is very well studied, the same patterns, from introduced species, are becoming widespread on our planet.”

Leicester’s research team also contributed to a paper on the findings, “Biological and Paleontological Signatures of the Anthropocene,” published in the Anthropocene Curriculum.