Japan sea sludge tells story of human impact on Earth

Jul 10, 2023 | News On Japan

Jul 10, 2023 (CNA) - Beneath the seawater in Japan's Beppu Bay lie layers of seemingly unremarkable sediment and sludge that tell the story of how humans have fundamentally altered the world around them.

The site is among those being considered for designation as a "golden spike", a location that offers evidence of a new geological epoch defined by our species: The Anthropocene.

The path to agree on the new era has been long and controversial, with scientists wrangling for years over whether the Holocene epoch that began 11,700 years ago has really been replaced by a new period defined by human impact on the Earth.

Key to their discussions has been picking a site that clearly documents the way we have changed our environment, from contaminating it with plutonium from nuclear tests, to littering it with microplastics.

Twelve sites around the world have been proposed as golden spike locations, including a peatland in Poland, an Australian coral reef, and the basin-like Beppu Bay in Japan's southwestern Oita. ...continue reading

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